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9 Journal, April 11, 1614. '<• Journal, May 21, 1614.
!^ Journal, May 12, 21, 1614. 22 Journal, April 18, 1614.
24 HISTOKT OF ENGLAND.
with regard to the new impositions. A speech of Neile,
Bishop of Lincoln, reflecting on the Lower House, begat
some altercation with the Peers ; ^ and the king seized the
opportunity of dissolving, immediately, with great indig-
nation, a Parliament which had shown so firm a resolution
of retrenching his prerogative , without communicating in
return the smallest supply to his necessities. He carried his
resentment so far as even to throw into prison some of the
members who had been the most forward in their opposition
to his measures.^^ In vain did he plead, in excuse for this
violence, the example of Elizabeth and other princes of the
line of Tudor, as well as Plantagenet. The people and the
Parliament, without abandoning forever all their liberties
and privileges, could acquiesce in none of these precedents,
how ancient and frequent soever ; and were the authority of
such precedents admitted, the utmost that could be inferred
is that the constitution of England was, at that time, an in-
consistent fabric, whose jarring and discordant parts must
soon destroy each other, and, from the dissolution of the old,
beget some new form of civil government more uniform and
consistent.
In the public and avowed conduct of the king and the
House of Commons, throughout this whole reign, there ap-
pears sufiicient cause of quarrel and mutual disgust ; yet we
are not to imagine that this was the sole foundation of that
jealousy which prevailed between them. During debates in
the House it often happened that a particular member, more
ardent and zealous than the rest, would display the highest
sentiments of liberty, which the Commons contented them-
selves to hear with silence and seeming approbation ; and
the king, informed of these harangues, concluded the whole
House to be infected with the same principles, and to be en-
gaged in a combination against his prerogative. The king,
on the other hand, though he valued himself extremely on
his kingcraft, and perhaps was not altogether incapable of
dissimulation, seems to have been very little endowed with
the gift of secrecy ; but openly, at his table, in all companies,
inculcated those monarchical tenets which he had so strongly '
imbibed. Before a numerous audience he had expressed
himself with gi'eat disparagement of the common law of
England, and had given the preference in the strongest
terms fo the civil law ; and for this indiscretion he found
himself obliged to apologize in a speech to the former
"3 See note [A] at the end of the volume. 2* Kennet, p. 696;
HISTOET OF ENGLAlfD. 25
Parliament.'^ As a specimen of his usual liberty of talk, we
may mention a story, though it passed some time after,
which we meet with in the life of Waller, and which that
poet used frequently to repeat. When Waller was young
he had the curiosity to go to court ; and he stood in the
circle and saw James dine, where, among other company,
there sat at table two bishops, Neile and Andrews. The
king proposed aloud this question, whether he might not
take his subjects' money when he needed it without all this
formality of Parliament ? Neile replied, " God forbid you
should not, foj- yon are the breath of our nostrils." Andrews
declined answering, and said he was not skilled in parlia-
mentary cases ; but upon the king's urging him, and saying
he would admit of no evasion, the bishop replied pleasantly,
" Why, then, I think your majesty may lawfully take my
brother Neile's money for he offers it."*^
[1615,] The favorite had hitherto escaped the inquiry of
justice ; but he had not escaped that still voice which can make -
itself be heard amid all the hurry and flattery of a court, and
astonishes the criminal with a just representation of his most
secret enormities. Conscious of the murder of his friend,
Somerset received small consolation from the enjoyments
of love or the utmost kindness and indulgence of his sovei-
eign. The graces of his youth gradually disappeared, the
gayety of his manners was obscured, his politeness and
obliging behavior were changed into sullenness and silence.
And the king, whose affections had been engaged by these
superficial accomplishments, began to estrange himself from
a man who no longer contributed to his amusement.
The sagacious courtiers observed the first .symptoms of
this disgust. Somerset's enemies seized the opportunity and
offered a new minion to the king. George Villiers, a youth
of one-and-twenty, younger brother of a good family, re-
turned at this time from his travels, and was remarked for
the advantages of a handsome person, genteel air, and
fashionable apparel. At a comedy, he was purposely placed
full in James's eye, and immediately engaged the attention,
and in the same instant the affections, of that monarch.^'
Ashamed of his sudden attachment, the king endeavored,
but in vain, to conceal the partiality which he felt for the
handsome stranger ; and he employed all his profound poli-
tics to fix him in his service without seeming to desire it.
2B King James's Works, p. 532. '« Preface to Waller's Works.
" Franklyn, p. 50. Kennet, vol. ii. p. 698.
26 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
He declared his resolution not to confer any office on him
unless entreated by the queen ; and he pretended that it
■should only be in complaisance to her choice he would agree
to admit him near his person. The queen was immediately
applied to ; but she well knowing the extreme to which the
king carried these attachments, refused, at first, to lend her
countenance to this new passion. It was not till entreated
by Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, a decent prelate, and
one much prejudiced against Somerset, that she would con-
descend to oblige her husband by asking this favor of him.^'
And the king, thinking now that all appearances were fully
saved, no longer constrained his affection, but immediately
bestowed the office of cup-bearer on young Villiers.
The whole court was thrown into parties between the
two minions ; while some endeavored to advance the rising
fortunes of Villiers, others deemed it safer to adhere to the
established credit of Somerset. The king himself, divided
■between inclination and decorum, increased the doubt and
ambiguity of the courtiers ; and the stern jealousy of the
old favorite, who refused every advance of friendship from.
his rival, begat perpetual quarrels between their several par-
tisans. But the discovei'y of Somerset's guilt in the murder
of Overbury at last decided the controversy, and exjjosed
him to the ruin and infamy which he so well merited.
An apothecary's 'prentice who had been employed in
making up the poisons, having retired to Flushing, began to
talk very freely of the whole secret ; and the affair at last
came to the ears of Trumbal, the king's envoy in the Low
Countries. By his means, Sir Ralph Winwood, secretary of
state, was informed, and he immediately carried the intelli-
gence to James. The king, alarmed and astonished to find
such enormous guilt in a man whom he had admitted into
his bosom, sent for Sir Edward Coke, chief -justice, and ear-
nestly recommended to him the most rigorous and unbiassed
scrutiny. This injunction was executed with great industry
and severity. The whole labyrinth of guilt was carefully
unravelled. The lesser criminals — Sir Jervis Elvis (lieuten-
ant of the Tower), Franklin, Weston, Mrs. Turner — were
first tried and condemned. Somerset and his countess were
afterwards found guilty. Northampton's death, a little
before, had saved him from a like fate.
It may not be unworthy of remark that Coke, in the
trial of Mrs. Turner, told her that she was guilty of the
28 Coke, pp. 46, 4T. Eusliworth, vol. i. p. 456.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 27
seven deadly sins. She -was a -whore, a bawd, a sorcerer, a
■witch, a Papist, a felon, and a murderer.'^" And what may-
more surprise us. Bacon, then attorney-general, took care to
observe that poisoning was a popish trick.'*"' Such were the
bigoted prejudices which prevailed. Poisoning was not, of
itself, sufficiently odious if it were not represented as a
branch of popery. Stowe tells us that when the king came
to Newcastle, on his first entry into England, he gave lib-
erty to all the prisoners except those who were confined for
treason, mm-der, and papistry. When one considers these
circumstances, that furious bigotry of the Catholics which
broke out in the gunpowder conspiracy appears the less sur-
prising.
All the accomplices in Overbury's murder received the
punishment due to their crime ; but the king bestowed a
pardon on the principals, Somerset and the countess. It
must be confessed that James's fortitude had been highly
laudable had he persisted in his first intention of consigning
over to severe justice all the criminals; but let us still be-
ware of blaming him too harshly if, on the approach of the
fatal hour, he scrupled to deliver into the hands of the ex-
ecutioner persons whom he had once favored with his most
tender affections. To soften the rigor of their fate, after
some years' imprisonment, he restored them to their liberty,
and conferred on them a pension, with which they retired,
and languished out old age in infamy and obscurity. Their
guilty loves were turned into the most deadly hatred ; and
they passed many years together in the same house without
any intercourse or correspondence with each other.^^
Several historians,'^ in relating these events, have in-
sisted much on the dissimulation of James's behavior when
he delivered Somerset into the hands of the chief-justice ;
on the insolent menaces of that criminal ; on his peremptory
refusal to stand a trial; and on the extreme anxiety of the
king during the whole progress of this affair. Allowing all
these circumstances to be true, of which some are suspicious,
if not palpably false,'' the great remains of tenderness which
James still felt for Somerset may, perhaps, be sufficient to
account for them. That favorite was liigh-spirited, and
resolute rather to perish than live under the infamy to
wnich he was exposed. James was sensible that the par-
doning of so great a criminal, which was of itself invidious,
» state Trtaas, vol. i. p. 230. " State Trials, toI. i. p. 242. '• Kennet, p. 699.
32 Coke, Weldon, etc. s° Se-j Biogr. Bnt. article Coke, p. 1384.
28 ' HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
would become still more unpopular if his obstinate and
stubborn behavior on his trial should augment the public
hatred against him.^* At least, the unreserved confidence
in which the king had indulged his favorite for several years
might render Somerset master of so many secrets that it is
impossible, without further light, to assign the particular
reason of that superiority which, it is said, he appeared so
much to assume.
The fall of Somerset, and his banishment from court,
opened the way for Villiers to mount up at once to the full
height of favor, of honors, and of riches. Had James's
passion been governed by common rules of prudence, the
office of cuj)-bearer would have attached Villiers to his
person, and might well have contented one of his age and
family; nor would any one, who was not cynically austere,
have much censured the singularity of the king's choice in
his friends and favorites. But such advancement was far
inferior to the fortune which he intended for his minion.
In the course of a few years he created him Viscount
Villiers ; Earl, Marquis, and Duke of Buckingham ; knight
of the garter; master of the horse; chief-justice in eyre;
warden of the Cinque Ports ; master of the king's-bench
office ; steward of Westminster ; constable of Windsor ; and
lord high admiral of England.^^ His mother obtained the
title of Countess of Buckingham ; his brother was created
Viscount Purbeck; and a numerous train of needy relations
were all pushed up into credit and authority. And thus
the fond prince, while he meant to play the tutor to his
favorite, and to train him up in the rules of prudence and
politics, took an infallible method, by. loading him with
premature and exorbitant honors, to render him forever
rash, precipitate, and insolent.
A young minion to gratify with pleasure, a necessitous
family to supply with riches, were enterprises too great for
the empty exchequer of James. In order to obtain a little
money, the cautionary towns must be delivered up to the
Dutch — a measure which has been severely blamed by
almost all historians ; and I may venture to affirm that it
has been censured much beyond its real weight and impor-
tance.
[1616.] When Queen Elizabeth advanced money for the
support of the infant republic, besides the view of securing
3' Bacon, vol. iv. p. 617.
'5 Franklyn, p. 30. Clarendon, 8to edit. vol. i. p. 10.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 29
herself against the power and ambition of Spain, she still
reserved the prospect of reimbursement ; and she got con-
signed into her hands the three important fortresses of Flush-
ing, the Brille, and Rammekins,' as pledges for the money
due to her. Indulgent to the necessitous condition of the
States, she agreed that the debt should bear no interest ; and
she stipulated that if ever England should make a separate
peace with Spain, she should pay the troops which garrisoned
thoSe fortresses.^^
After the truce was concluded between Spain and the
United Provinces, the States made an agreement with the
king that the debt, which then amounted to eight hundred
thousand pounds, should be discharged by yearly payments
of forty thousand pounds ; and as five years had elapsed, the
debt was now reduced to six hundred thousand pounds ; and
in fifteen years more, if the truce were renewed, it would be
finally extinguished.^' But of this sum, twenty-six thousand
pounds a year were expended on the pay of the garrisons ;
the remainder alone accrued to the king; and the States,
weighing these circumsttinces, thought that they made James
a very advantageous offer when they expressed their willing-
ness, on the surrender of the cautionary towns, to pay him
immediately two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and to
incoi'porate the English garrisons in their army. It occurred
also to the king that even the payment of the forty thousand
pounds a year was precarious, and depended on the accident
that the truce should be renewed between Spain and the
republic. If war broke out, the maintenance of the garri-
sons lay upon England alone — a burden very useless, and
too heavy for the slender revenues of that kingdom ; that
even during the truce, the Dutch, straitened by other ex-
penses, were far from being regular in their payments ; and
the garrisons were at present in danger of mutinying for
want of subsistence ; that the annual sum of fourteen thou-
sand pounds, the whole saving on the Dutch payments,
amounted, in fifteen years, to no more than two hundred
and ten thousand pounds ; whereas two hundred and fifty
thousand pounds were offered immediately — a larger sum,
and, if money be computed at ten per cent, (the current in-
terest), more than double the' sum, to which England was
entitled ; ^^ that if James waited till the whole debt were
30 Eymer, vol. xvi. p. 341. Winwood, toI. li. p. 351.
2' Sir Dudley Cai-leton's Letters, pp. 27, 28.
3^ An annuity of fourteen thousand pounds during iifteen years, money being
at ten per cent., is wortli on computation only one hundred and six thousand
30 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND,
discharged, the troops which composed the garrisons re-
mained a burden upon him, and could not be broken witji-
out receiving some consideration for their past services;
that the cautionary towns were only a temporary restraint
upon the Hollanders, and, in the present emergency, the
conjunction of interest between England and the republic
was so intimate as to render all other ties superfluous ; and
no reasonable measures for mutual support would be want-
ing from the Dutch, even though freed from the dependence
of these garrisons ; that the exchequer of the republic was
at present very low, insomuch that they found difficulty,
now that the aids of France were withdrawn, to maintain
themselves in that posture of defence which was requisite
during the truce with Spain ; and the Spaniards were per-
petually insisting with the king on the restitution of these
towns as belonging to their crown ; and no cordial alliance
could ever be made with that nation while they remained
in the hands of the English.^ These reasons, together with
his urgent wants, induced the king to accept of Caron's
offer ; and he evacuated the cautionary towns, which held
the State in a degree of subjection, and which an ambiti-
ous and enterprising jjrince would have regarded as his most
valuable possessions. This is the date of the full liberty of
the Dutch commonwealth.
[1617.] When the crown of England devolved on
James, it might have been foreseen by the Scottish nation
that the independence of their kingdom, the object for
which their ancestors had shed so much blood, would now
be lost; and that if both states persevered in maintaining
separate laws and parliaments, the weaker would more
sensibly feel the subjection than if it had been totally sub-
dued by force of arms. But these views did not generally
occur. The glory of having given a sovereign to their power-
ful enemy, the advantages of present peace and tranquillity,
the riches acquired from the munificence of their master ;
these considerations secured their dutiful obedience to a
prince who daily gave such sensible proofs of his friendship
and partiality towards them. Never had the authority of
any king who resided among them been so firmly established
a,s was that of James, even when absent ; and as the admin-
istration had been hitherto conducted with great order and
Ave hundred pounds, whereas the king received two hundred and lifty tliousand
Yet the bargain was good lor the Dutcli as weU as the king, because they were
both of them free from the maiuteuaucc of useless garrisons.
™ Kushworth, vol. i. p. 3.
HTSTOET OF ENGLAND. 31
tranquillity, there had happened no occurrence to draw
thither our attention. But this summer the king was re-
solved to pay a visit to his native country, in order to re-
new his ancient friendships and connections, and to intro-
duce that change of ecclesiastical discipline and government
on which he was extremely intent. The three chief points
of this kind which James proposed to accomplish by his
journey to Scotland were, the enlarging of episcopal author-
ity, the establishing of a few ceremonies in public worship,
and the fixing of a superiority in the civil above the eccle-
siastical jurisdiction.
But it is an observation suggested by all history, and by
none more than that of James and his successor, that the
religious spirit, when it mingles with faction, contains in it
something supernatural and unaccountable ; and that in its
operations upon society, effects correspond less to their
known causes than is found in any other circumstance of
government, A reflection which may at once afford a
source of blame against such sovereigns as lightly innovate
in so dangerous an article, and of apology for such as, being
engaged in an enterprise of that natuve, are disappointed of
the expected event, and fail in their undertakings.
When the Scottish nation was first seized with that zeal
for reformation which, though it caused such disturbance
during the time, has proved so salutary in the consequences,
the preachers, assuming a character little inferior to the pro-
phetic or apostolical, disdained all subjection to the spiritual
rulers of the Church by whom their innovations were pun-
ished and opposed. The revenues of the dignified clergy,
RO, longer considered as sacred, were either appi-opriated
by the present possessors or seized by the more powerful
barons ; and what remained, after mighty dilapidations,
was, by act of Parliament, annexed to the crown. The prel-
ates, however, and abbots maintained their temporal juris-
dictions and their seats in Parliament ; and though laymen
were sometimes endowed with ecclesiastical titles, the
Church, notwithstanding its frequent protestations to the
contrary, was still supposed to be represented by those
spiritual lords in the states of the kingdom. After many
struggles, the king, even before his accession to the throne
of England, had acquired sufficient influence over the Scot-
tish clergy to extort from them an acknowledgment of the
parliamentary jurisdiction of bishops; though attended with
Biany precautions, in order to secure themselves against the
32 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
spiritual encroachments of that order .^o When King of-
England, he engaged them, though still with great reluc-
tance on their part, to advance a step further, and to receive
the bishops as perpetual presidents or moderators in their
ecclesiastical synods, reiterating their protestations against
all spiritual jurisdiction of the prelates and all controlling
power over the Presbyterians.^^ And by such gradual in-
novations the king flattered himself that he should quietly
introduce episcopal authority; but as his final scope was
fully seen from the beginning, every new advance gave fresh
occasion of discontent, and aggravated, instead of softening,
the abhorrence entertained against the prelacy.
What rendered the king's aim more apparent were the
endeavors which, at the same time, he used to introduce
into Scotland some of the ceremonies of the Church of Eng-
land : the rest, it was easily foreseen, would soon follow.
The fire of devotion, excited by novelty and inflamed by
opposition, had so possessed the minds of the Scottish re-
formers that all rites and ornaments, and even order of wor-
ship, were disdainfully rejected as useless burdens ; retai'd-
ing the imagination in its rapturous ecstasies, and crami^ing
the opei-ations of that divine spirit by which they supposed
themselves to be animated. A mode of worship was estab-
lished, the most naked and most simple imaginable — one
that borrowed nothing from the senses, but reposed itself
entirely on the contemplation of that divine essence which
discovers itself to the understanding only. This species of
devotion, so worthy of the Supreme Being, but so little suit-
able to human frailty, was observed to occasion great dis-
turbances in the breast, and in many respects to confound all
rational principles of conduct and behavior. The mind,
straining for these extraordinary raptures, reaching them by
short glances, sinking again under its own weakness, reject-
ing all exterior aid of pomp and ceremony, was so occupied
in this inward life that it fled from every intercourse of so-
ciety, andfrom every cheerful amusement which could soften
or humanize the character. It was obvious to all discerning
eyes, and had not escaped the king's, that, by the prevar
lence of fanaticism, a gloomy and sullen disposition estab-
lished itself among the people — a spirit obstinate and dan-
gerous, independent apd disorderly, animated equally with
a contempt of authority and a hatred to every mode of re-
ligion, particularly to the Catholic. In order to mellow
« 1598. 41 1606.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 33
these humors, James endeavored to infuse a small tincture
of ceremony into the national worship, and to introduce such
rites as might, in some degree, occupy the mind and please
the senses, without dejDarting too far from that simplicity by
which the Reformation was distinguished. The finer arts,
too, though still rude in these northern kingdoms, were em-
ployed to adorn the churches ; and the king's chapel, in y
which an organ was erected and some pictures and statues
displayed, was proposed as a model to the rest of the nation.
But music was grating to the prejudiced ears of the Scottish
clergy ; sculpture and painting appeai-ed instruments of
idolatry ; the surplice was a rag of popery ; and every mo-
tion or gesture prescribed by the liturgy was a step towards
that spiritual Babylon so much the object of their horror
and aversion. Everything was deemed impious but their
own mystical comments on the Scriptures, which they idol-
ized, and whose Eastern prophetic style they employed in
every common occurrence.
It will not be necessary to give a particular account of
the ceremonies which the king was so intent to establish.
Such institutions, for a time, are esteemed either too divine
to have proceeded from any other being than the supreme
Creator of the universe, or too diabolical to have been de-
rived from any but an infernal demon. But no sooner is
the mode of the controversy passed than they are univer-
sally discovered to be of so little importance as scarcely to
be mentioned with decency amid the ordinary course of
human transactions. It sufBces here to remark that the
rites introduced by James regarded the kneeling at the sac-
rament, private communion, private baptism, confirmation
of children, and the observance of Christmas, and other fes-
tivals.*'^ The acts establishing these ceremonies were after-
wards known by the name of the Articles of Perth, from
the place where they were ratified by the assembly.
A conformity of discipline and worship between the
churches of England and Scotland, which was James's aim,
he never could hope to establish but by first procuring an
acknowledgment of his own authority in all spiritual
causes ; and nothing could be more contrary to the practice
as well as principles of the Presbyterian clergy. The eccle-
siastical courts possessed the power of pronouncing excom-
munication ; and that sentence, besides the spiritual conse-
quences supposed to follow from it, was attended witti
<2 Franklyn, p. 25. Spotewood.
Vol. IV.— 3
84 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
immediate effects of the most important nature. The person
excommunicated was shunned by every one as profane and
impious ; and his whole estate during his lifetime, and all
his movables forever, were forfeited to the crown. Nor were
the previous steps requisite before pronouncing this sen-
tence, formal or irregular, in proportion to the weight of it.
Without accuserj without summons, without trial, any eccle-
siastical court, however inferior, sometimes pretended in a
summary manner to denounce excommunication for any
cause, and against any person, even though he lived not
within the bounds of their jurisdiction.*" And by this
means the whole tyranny of the Inquisition, though without
its order, was introduced into the kingdom.
But the clergy were not content with the unlimited juris-
diction which they exercised in ecclesiastical matters. They
assumed a censorial power over every part of administra-
tion ; and in all their sermons, and even prayers, mingling
politics with religion, they inculcated the most seditious
and most turbulent principles. Black, minister of St. An-
drew's, went so far,** in a sermon, as to pronounce all kings
the devil's children. He gave the Queen of England the
appellation of atheist ; he said that the treachery of the
king's heart was now fully discovered ; and, in his prayers
for the queen, he used these words : " We must pray for
her for the fashion's sake, but we have no cause ; she will
never do us any good." When summoned before the privy
council, he refused to answer to a civil court for anything
delivered from the pulpit, even though the crime of which
he was accused was of a civil nature. The Church adopted
his cause. They raised a sedition in Edinburgh.*^ The
king, during some time, was in the hands of the enraged
populace ; and it was not without courage as well as dex-
terity that he was able to extricate himself.*" A few days
after, a minister, preaching in the principal church of that
capital, said that the king was possessed with a devil ; and
that one devil being expelled, seven worse had entered in
his place.*' To which he added that the subjects might
lawfully rise and take the sword out of his hand. Scarcely,
even during the darkest night of papal superstition, are
there found such instances of priestly encroachments as the
annals of Scotland present to us during that period.
By these extravagant stretches of power, and by the
patient conduct of James, the Church began to lose "-round
" Spotawood. " 1596. « Dec. 17, 1596. « SpotBwood. " Ibid.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 35
even before the king's accession to the throne of England ;
but no sooner had that event taken place than he made the
Scottish clergy sensible that he had become the sovereign of
a great kingdom, which he governed with great authority.
Though formerly he would have thought himself happy to
have made a fair partition with them of the civil and eccle-
siastical authority, he was now resolved to exert a supreme
jurisdiction in Church as well as State, and to put an end
to their seditious practices. An assembly had been sum-
moned at Aberdeen ; *' but, on account of his journey to
London, he prorogued it to the year following. Some of
the clergy, disavowing his ecclesiastical supremacy, met at
the time first appointed, notwithstanding his prohibition.
He threw them into prison. Such of them as submitted
and acknowledged their error were pardoned. The rest
were brought to their trial. They were condemned for high
treason. The king gave them their lives, but banished them
the kingdom. Six of them suffered this penalty.^'
The general assembly was afterwards induced^" to ac-
knowledge the king's authority in summoning ecclesiastical
courts, and to submit to the jurisdiction and visitation of
the bishops. Even their favorite sentence of excommunica-
tion was declared invalid unless confirmed by the ordinary.
The king recommended to the inferior courts the members
whom they should elect to this assembly; and everything
was conducted in it with little appearance of choice and
liberty.*^
By his own prerogative, likewise, which he seems to
have stretched on this occasiori, the king erected a court of
high commission,*^ in imitation of that which was estab-
lished in England. The bishops, and a few of the clergy
who had been summoned, willingly acknowledged this court ;
and it proceeded immediately upon business as if its author-
ity had been grounded on the full consent of the whole legis-
lature. ,
But James reserved the final blow for the time when he
should himself pay a visit to Scotland. He proposed to
the Parliament, which was then assembled, that they should
enact that " whatever his majesty should determine, in the
external government of the Church, with the consent of the
archbishops, bishops, and a competent number of the minis-
try, should have the force of law." '* What number should
« July, 1604. « Spotswood. "o June 6, 1610.
1 Spotswood. B February, 15, 1610. » Spotswood. Franklyn, p. 29.
36 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
be deemed competent was not determined ; and their nom-
ination was left entirely to the king ; so th-at his ecclesiasti-
cal authority, had this bill passed, would have been estab-
lished in its full extent. Some of the clergy protested.
They apprehended, they said, that the purity of their Church
would, by means of this new authority, be polluted with all
the rites and liturgy of the Church of England. James,
dreading clamor and opposition, droijped the bill, which
had already passed the lords of articles, and asserted that
the inherent prerogative of the crown contained more power
than was recognized by it. Some time after, he called at
St. Andrew's a meeting of the bishops and thirty-six of the
most eminent clergy. Pie there declared his resolution of
exerting his prerogative, and of establishing by his own
authority the few ceremonies which he had recommended
to them. They entreated him rather to summon a general
assembly and to gain their assent. An assembly was accord-
ingly summoned to meet on the 25th of November ensuing.
Yet this assembly, which met after the king's departure
from Scotland, eluded all his applications ; and it was not
till the subsequent year that he was able to procure a vote
for receiving his ceremonies. And through every step of this
affair, in the Parliament, as well as in all the general assem-
blies, the nation betrayed the utmost reluctance to all these
innovations; and nothing but James's importunity and
authority had extorted a seeming consent, which was be-
lied by the inward sentiments of all ranks of people. Even
the few over whom religious prejudices were not prevalent
thought national honor sacrificed by a servile imitation of
the modes of worship practised in Engl md ; and every pru-
dent man agreed in condemning the measures of the king,
who, by an ill-timed zeal for insignificant ceremonies, had
betrayed, though in an opposite manner, equal narrowness
of mind with the persons whom he treated with such con-
tempt. It was judged that, had not these dangerous humors
been irritated by opposition — had they been allowed peace-
ably to evaporate — they would at last have subsided within
the limits of law and civil authority ; and that as all fanati-
cal religions naturally circumscribe to very narrow bounds
the numbers and riches of the ecclesiastics, no sooner is
their first fire spent than they lose their credit over the peo-
ple, and leave them under the natural and beneficent influ-
ence of their civil and moral obligations.
At the same time that James shocked, in so violent a
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 37
manner, the religious principles of his Scottish subjects, he
acted in opposition to those of his English. He had ob-
served, in his progress through England, that a judaical
observance of the Sunday, chiefly by means of the Puritans,
was every day gaining ground throughout the kingdom, and
that the people, under color of religion, were, contrai-y to
former practice, debarred such sports and recreations as
contributed both to their health and their amusement."
Festivals, which in other nations and ages are partly dedi-
cated to public worship, partly to mirth and society, were
here totally appropriated to the offices of religion, and
served to nourish those sullen and gloomy contemplations
to which the jjeople were of themselves so unfortunately
subject. The king imagined that it would be easy to infuse
cheerfulness into this dark spirit of devotion. He issued a
pi-oclamation to allow and encourage, after divine service,
all kinds of lawful games and exercises ; and, by his author-
ity, he endeavored to give sanction to a practice, which his
subjects regarded as the utmost instance of profaneness and
impiety.*^^
« KeiiTiet, p. 709.
1^ Franklyn, p. 31. To showbow rigid the English, chiefly the Puritans, were
(become in. this particular, a bill was introduced into the House of Commons, in
the eighteenth of the king, for the more strict observance of the Sunday, which
they affected to call the Sabbath. One Shepherd opposed tliis bill, objected to
the appellation of Sabbath as puritanical, defended dancing by the example of
David, and seems even to have justified sports on that day. For this profane-
ness he was expelled the House, by the suggestion of Mr. Fym. The House of
Lords opposed so far this puritanical spirit of the Commons that they proposed
that the appellation of Sabbath should be changed into that of the Lord's Day,
Journal, IBtli, 16th February. 1620 ; 28th May, 1621. In Shepherd's sentence, liis
offence is said by the House to be great, exorbitant, unparalleled.
38 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER XLVin.
SIE -WALTER EALEIGh's EXPEDITION. HIS EXECUTION. IN-
SUERECTIONS IN BOHEMIA. LOSS OP THE PALATINATE.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH SPAIN. A PARLIAMENT. PAETIES.
FALL OP BACON. RUPTURE BETWEEN THE KING AND
THE COMMONS. PROTESTATION OP THE COMMONS.
[1618.] At the time when Sir Walter Raleigh was first
confined in the Tower, his violent and haughty temper had
rendered him the most unpopular man in England ; and his
condemnation was chiefly owing to that public odium under
which he labored. During the thirteen years' imprisonment
which he suffered, the sentiments of the nation were much
changed with regard to him. Men had leisure to reflect on
the hardship, not to say injustice, of his sentence ; they pitied
his active and enterprising spirit, which languished in the
rigors of confinement ; they were struck with the extensive
genius of tlie man, who, being educated amid naval and mili-
tary enterprises, had surpassed, in the pursuits of literature,
even those of the most recluse and sedentary lives ; and they
admired his unbroken magnanimity, which, at his age and
under his circumstances, could engage him to undertake
and execute so great a work as his History of the World.
To increase these favorable dispositions, on which he built
the hopes of recovering his liberty, he spread the report of
a golden mine which he had discovered in Guiana, and
which was sufficient, according to his representation, not
only to enrich all the adventurers, but to afford immense
treasures to the nation. The king gave little credit to these
mighty promises, both because he believed that no such
mine as the one described was anywhere in nature, and
because he considered Raleigh as a man of desperate for-
tunes, whose business it was, by any means, to procure his
freedom, and to reinstate himself in credit and authority.
Thinking, however, that he had already undergone suflicient
punishment, he released him from the Tower; and when
his vaunts of the golden mine had induced multitudes to
engage with him, the king gave them permission to try the
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 39
adventure, and, at their desire, he conferred on Raleigh
^authority over his fellow-adventurers. Though strongly-
solicited, he still refused to grant him a pardon, which
seemed a natural consequence when he was intrusted with
power and command. But James declared himself still
diffident of Raleigh's intentions ; and he meant, he said, to
reserve the former sentence as a check upon his future be-
havior.
Raleigh well knew that it was far from the king's pur-
pose to invade any of the Spanish settlements : he therefore
firmly denied that Spain had planted any colonies on that
part of the coast where his mine lay. When Gondomar, the
ambassador of that nation, alarmed at his preparations,
carried complaints to the king, Raleigh still protested the
innocence of his intentions ; and James assured Gondomar
that he durst not form any hostile attempt, but should pay
with his head for so audacious an enterprise. The minister,
however, concluding that twelve armed vessels were not
fitted out without some purpose of invasion, conveyed the
intelligence to the court of Madrid, who immediately gave
orders for arming and fortifying all their settlements, par-
ticularly those along the coast of Guiana.
When the courage and avarice of the Spaniards and
Portuguese had discovered so many new worlds, they were
resolved to show themselves superior to the barbarous
heathens whom they invaded, not only in arts and arms,
but also in the justice of the quarrel : they applied to Alex-
ander VI., who then filled the papal chair, and he generously
bestowed on the Spaniards the whole of the western, and on
the Portuguese the whole eastern part of the globe. The
more scrupulous Protestants, who acknowledged not the
authority of the Roman pontiff, established the first dis-
covery as the foundation of their title ; and if a pirate or
sea-adventurer of their nation had but erected a stick or a
stone on the coast, as a memorial of his taking possession,
they concluded the whole continent to belong to them, and
thought themselves entitled to expel or exterminate, as
usurpers, the ancient possessors and inhabitants. It was in
this manner that Sir Walter Raleigh, about twenty-three
years before, had acquired to the crown of England a claim
to the continent of Guiana, a region as large as the half of
Europe ; and though he had immediately left the coast, yet
he pretended that the English title to the whole remained
certain and indefeasible. But it had happened in the mean
40 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
time that the Spaniards, not knowing, or not acknowleclging,
this imaginary claim, had taken j)ossession of a part of
Guiana, had formed a settlement on the river Orinoco, had
built a little town called St. Thomas, and were there work-
ing some mines of small -value.
To this place Raleigh directly bent his course ; and, re-
maining himself at the mouth of the river with five of the
largest ships, he sent up the rest to St. Thomas under the
command of his son and a Captain Keymis, a person en-
tirely devoted to him. The Spaniards, who had expected
this invasion, fired on the English at their landing, were re-
pulsed, and pursued into the town. Young Raleigh, to en-
courage his men, called out that this was the true mine, and
none but fools looked for any other ; and, advancing upon
the Spaniards, received a shot, of which he immediately
expired. This dismayed no^ Keymis and the others. They
carried on the attack, got possession of the town, which
they afterwards reduced to ashes, and found not in it any-
thing of value.
Raleigh did not pretend that he had himself seen the
mine which he had engaged so many people to go in quest
of ; it was Keymis, he said, who had formerly discovered
it, and had brought him that lump of ore which promised
such immense treasures ; yet Keymis, who owned that he
was within two hours' march of the place, refused, on the
most absurd pretences, to take any effectual step towards
finding it ; and he returned immediately to Raleigh with the
melancholy news of his son's death and the ill-success of
the enterprise. Sensible to reproach, and dreading pun-
ishment for his behavior, Keymis, in despair, retired into
his cabin and put an end to his own life.
The other adventurers now concluded that they were
deceived by Raleigh ; that he never had known of any such
mine as he pretended to go in search of ; that his intention
had ever been to plunder St. Thomas, and, having encour-
aged his company by the spoils of that place, to have thence
proceeded to the invasion of the other Spanish settlements ;
that he expected to repair his ruined fortunes by such dar-
ing enterprises, and that he trusted to the money he should
acquire for making his peace with England ; or, if that view
failed him, that he purposed to retire'into some other coun-
try where his riches would secure his retreat.
The small acquisitions gained by the sack of St. Thomas
discouraged Raleigh's companions from entering into these
HISTOKY OF ENGLAN'D. 41
views, though there were many circumstances in the treaty
and late transactions between the nations which might in-
vite them to engage in such a piratical war against the
Spaniards.
When England made peace with Spain, the example of
Henry IV. was imitated, who, at the treaty of Vervins,
finding a difficulty in adjusting all questions with regard to
the Indian trade, had agreed to pass over that article in
total silence. The Spaniards, having all along published
severe edicts against the intercourse of any European na-
tions with their colonies, interpreted this silence in their
own favor, and considered it as a tacit acquiescence of Eng-
land in the established laws of Spain. The English, on the
contrary, pretended that, as they had never been excluded
by any treaty from commerce with any part of the King
of Spain's dominions, it was still as lawful for them to trade
with his settlements in either Indies as with his European
territories. In consequence of this ambiguity, many ad-
venturers from England sailed to the Spanish Indies, and
met with severe punishment when caught ; as they on the
other hand, often stole, and, when superior in power, forced
a trade with the inhabitants, and resisted — nay, sometimes
plundered — the Spanish governors. Violences of this na-
ture, which had been carried to a great height on both
sides, it was agreed to bury in total oblivion, because of the
difficulty which was found in remedying them upon any
fixed principles.
But as there appeared a great difference between pri-
vate adventurers in single ships and a fleet acting under a
royal commission, Raleigh's companions thought it safest
to return immediately to England, and carry him along
with them to answer for his conduct. It appears that he
employed many artifices, first to engage them to attack the
Spanish settlements, and failing of that, to make his escape
into France'; but all these proving unsuccessful, he was de-
livered into the king's hands and strictly examined, as well
as his fellow-adventurers, before the privy council. The
council, upon inquiry, found no difficulty in pronouncing
that the former suspicions with regard to Raleigh's inten-
tions had been well grounded; that he had abused Ihe king
in the representations which he had made of his projected
adventure; that, contrary to his instructions, he had acted
in an offensive and hostile manner against his majesty's
allies, and that he had wilfully burned and destroyed a town
42 HISTOEY OP ESfGLANI).
belonging to the King of Spain. He might have been tried
either by common law for this act of violence and piracy or
by martial law for breach of orders ; but it was an established
principle among lawyers ^ that as he lay under an actual at-
tainder for high treason, he could not be brought to a new
trial for any other crime. To satisfy, therefore, the court
of Spain, which raised the loudest complaints against him,
the king made use of that power which he had purposely
reserved in his own hands, and signed the warrant for his
execution upon his former sentence.^
Raleigh, finding his fate inevitable, collected all his cour-
age ; though he had formerly made use of many mean ar-
tifices, such as feigning madness, sickness, and a variety of
diseases in order to protract his examination and procure
his escape, he now resolved to act his part with bravery
and resolution. " 'Tis a sharp remedy," he said, "but a
sure one for all ills," when he felt the edge of the axe by
which he was to be iDeheaded.^ His harangue to the people
was calm and eloquent, and he endeavored to revenge him-
self and to load his enemies with the public hatred by
strong asseverations of facts which, to say the least, may
be esteemed very doubtful.* With the utmost indifference,
he laid his head upon the block and received the fatal blow ;
and in his death there appeared the same great but ill-regu-
lated mind which during his life had displayed itself in all
his conduct and behavior.
No measure of James's reign was attended with more
public dissatisfaction than the punishment of Sir Walter
Raleigh. To execute a sentence which was originally so
hard, which had been so long suspended, and which seemed
to have been tacitly pardoned by conferring on him a new
trust and commission, was deemed an instance of cruelty
and injustice. To sacrifice to a concealed enemy of Eng-
land the life of the only man in the nation who had a high
reputation for valor and military experience was regarded
as meanness and indiscretion, and the intimate connections
which the king was now entei'ing into with Spain, being
universally distasteful, rendered this proof of his complai-
sance still more invidious and unpopular.
James had entertained an opinion, which was peculiar to
1 See this matter discussed in Bacon's Letters, puMished by I>r. Birch, p. isi.
2 See note [B ] at the end of the volume. ^ Fraulclyn, p. 32.
* He asserted, in the most solemn manner, that he had nowise contributed to
Essex's death ; but the last letter in Murden's Collection contains the strongest
proof to the contrary.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 43
himself, and which had been adopted by none of his pred-
ecessors, that any alliance below that of a great king was
unworthy of a Prince of Wales ; and he would never allow
any princess but a daughter of France or Spain to be men-
tioned as a match for his son.^ This instance of pride,
which really irajjlies meanness, as if he coald receive honor
from any alliance, was so well known that Spain had founded
on it the hopes of governing, in the most important transac-
tions, this monarch, so little celebrated for politics or prud-
ence. During the life of Henry, the King of Spain had
dropped some hints of bestowing on that prince his eldest
daughter, whom he afterwards disposed of in marriage to
the young King of France, Louis XIII. At that time the
views of the Spaniards were to engage James into a neu-
trality with regard to the succession of Cleves, which was
disputed between the Protestant and popish line ; * but the
bait did not then take, and James, in consequence of his
alliance with the Dutch and with Henry IV. of France,
marched ' four thousand men, under the command of Sir
Edward Cecil, who joined these two powers, and put the
Marquis of Brandenburg and the Palatine of Newburg in
possession of that duchy.
Gondomar was at this time the Spanish ambassador in
England, a man whose flattery was the more artful because
covered with tlie appearance of frankness and sincerity —
whose politics were the more dangerous because disguised
under the mask of mirth and pleasantry. He now made
offer of the second daughter of Spain to Prince Charles ;
and, that he might render the temptation irresistible to the
necessitous monarch, he gave liopes of an immense fortune
which should attend the princess. The court of Spain,
though determined to contract no alliance with a heretic,'
entered into negotiations with James, which they artfully
protracted, and, amid every disappointrnent, they still re-
doubled his hopes of success.' The transactions in Ger-
many, so important to the Austrian greatness, became every
day a new motive for this duplicity of conduct.
In that great revolution of manners which happened dur-
ing the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the only nations
who had the honorable, though often melancholy, advantage
of making an effort for their expiring privileges were such
as, together with the principles of civil liberty, were ani-
5 Kennet, pp. 703, 748. « Kushwortli, vol. i. p. 2. ' 1610.
e La Boderie, vol. ii. p. 30. " Franklyn, p. 71.
4'4 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
mated with a zeal for religious parties and opinions. Besides
the irresistible force of standing armies, the European princes
possessed this advantage, that they were descended from the
ancient royal families ; that they continued the same appel-
lations of magistrates, the same appearance of civil govern-
ment, and, restraining themselves by all the forms of legal
administration, could insensibly impose the yoke on their
unguarded subjects. Even the German nations, who for-
merly broke the Roman chains and restored liberty to man-
kind, now lost their own liberty, and saw with grief the
absolute authority of their princes firmly established among
them. In their circumstances, nothing but a pious zeal,
which disregards all motives of human prudence, could have
made them entertain hopes of preserving any longer those
privileges which their ancestors through so many ages had
transmitted to them.
As the house of Austria, throughout all her extensive do-
minions, had ever made religion the pretence for her usurpa-
tions, she now met ■\vith resistance from a like principle ; and
the Catholic religion, as usual, had ranged itself on the side
of monarchy ; the Protestant, on that of liberty. The states
of Bohemia, having taken arms against the Emperor Mat-
thias, continued their revolt against his successor Ferdinand,
and claimed the observance- of all the edicts enacted in favor
of the new religion, together with the restoration of their
ancient laws and constitution. The neighboring pi-incLpali-
ties — Silesia, Moravia, Lusatia, Austria, even the kingdom
of Hungary — took part in the quarrel, and throughout all
these populous and martial provinces the spirit of discord
and civil war had universally diffused itself.'"
[1619.]_ Ferdinand II., who possessed more vigor and
gi-eater abilities, though not more lenity and moderation,
than are usual with the Austrian princes, strongly armed
himself for the recovery of his authority ; and besides em-
ploying the assistance of his subjects, who professed the an-
cient religion, he engaged on his side a powerful alliance of
the neighboring potentates. All the Catholic princes of the
empire had embraced his defence— even Saxony, the most
powerful of the Protestant ; Poland had declared itself in
his favor ; " and, above all, the Spanish monarch, deemino-
his own interest closely connected with that of the younger
branch of his family, prepared powerful succors from Italy
and from the Low Countries ; and he also advanced large
" Eushworth, vol. i. pp. 7, 8. " Kushworth, TOl. i. pp. 13. 14.
FISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 45
sums for the support of Ferdinand and of the Catholic
religion.
The states of Bohemia, alarmed at these mighty prep-
arations, began also to solicit foreign assistance ; and, to-
gether with that support which which they obtained from
the evangelical union in Germany, they endeavored to
establish connections with greater princes. They cast their
eyes on Frederick, Elector-Palatine. They considered that,
besides commanding no despicable force of his own, he was
son-in-law to the King of England and nephew to Prince
Maurice, whose authority was become almost absolute in
the United Provinces. They hoped that these princes,
moved by the connections of blood as well as by the tie of
their common religion, would interest themselves in all the
fortunes of Frederick, and would promote his greatness.
They therefore made him a tender of their crown, which
they considered as elective ; and the young palatine, stim-
ulated by ambition, without consulting either James ^^ or
Maurice, whose opposition he foresaw, immediately accepted
the offer, and marched all his forces into Bohemia in sup-
port of hia new subjects.
The news of these events no sooner reached England
than the whole kingdom was on fire to engage in the quar-
rel. Scarcely was the ardor greater with which all the
states of Europe, in former ages, flew to rescue the Holy
Land from the dominion of infidels. The nation was as yet
sincerely attached to the blood of their monarchs, and they
considered their connection with the Palatine, who had mar-
ried a daughter of England, as very close and intimate; and
when they heard of Catholics carrying on wars and perse-
cutions against Protestants, they thought their own interest
deeply concerned, and regarded their neutrality as a base
desertion of the cause of God and of his holy religion. In
such a quarrel, they would gladly have marched to the op-
posite extremity of Europe, have plunged themselves into a
chaos of German politics, and have expended all the blood
and treasure of the nation by maintaining a contest with
the whole house of Austria, at the very time and in the
very place in which it was the most potent, and almost
irresistible.
But James, besides that his temper was too little enter-
prising for such vast undertakings, was restrained by an-
other motive which had a mighty influence over him : he
« Franklyn, p. 49.
46 HISTORY 01" ENGLAND.
refusea to patronize the revolt of subjects against their sov-
ereign. From the very iirst he denied to his son-in-law the
title of King of Bohemia ; " he forbade him to be prayed
for in the churches under that appellation; and though he
owned that he had nowise examined the pretensions, privi-
leges, and constitution of the revolted states," so exalted was
his idea of the rights of kings that he concluded subjects
must ever be in the wrong when they stood in opposition
to those who had acquired or assumed that majestic title.
Thus, even in measures founded on true politics, James
intermixed so many narrow prejudices as diminished his
authority and exposed him to the imputation of weakness
and of error.
[1620.] Meanwhile affairs everywhere hastened to a
crisis. Ferdinand levied a great force, under the command
of the Duke of Bavaria and the Count of Bucquoy; and ad-
vanced upon his enemy in Bohemia. In the Low Countries,
Spinola collected a veteran army of thirty thousand men.
When Edmonds, the king's resident at Brussels, made re-
monstrances to the Archduke Albert, he was answered that
the orders for this armament iiad been transmitted to Spin-
ola from Madrid, and that he alone knew the secret desti-
nation of it. Spinola again told the minister that his orders
were still sealed, but if Edmonds would accompany him in
his march to Coblentz, he would there open them and give
him full satisfaction." It was more easy to see his inten-
tions than to prevent their success. Almost at one time it
was known in England that Frederick, being defeated in
the great and decisive battle of Prague, had fled with liis
family into Holland, and that Spinola had invaded the
Palatinate, and, meeting with no resistance, except from some
princes of the union, and from one English regiment of two
thousand four hundred men, commanded by the brave Sir
Horace Vere," had, in a little time, reduced the greater
part of that princijsality.
High were now the murmurs and complaints against the
kings's neutrality .nnd inactive disposition. The happiness
and tranquillity of their own country became distasteful to
the English, when },hey reflected on the grievances and dis-
tresses of their Protestant brethren in Germany. They con-
sidered not that their interposition in the wars of the Conti-
" Rushworth, vol. i. pp. 12, 13. " FranUlvn t> 4S
1= Franklyn, p. 44. Eusliwortli, vol. i. p. 14. '
I" Franklyn, pp. 42, 43. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 15. Kennet, p. 723.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 47
nent, though agreeable to religious zeal, could not, at that
time, be justified by any sound maxims of politics ; that,
however exorbitant the Austrian greatness, the danger was
still too distant to give any just alarm to England ; that
mighty resistance would yet be made by so many potent and
warlike princes and states in Germany ere they would yield
their neck to the yoke ; that France, now engaged to con-
tract a double alliance with the Austrian family, must neces-
sarily be soon roused from her lethargy, and oppose the
progress of so hated a rival ; that in the further advance of
conquests even the interests of the two branches of that am-
bitious family must interfere and beget mutual jealousy and
opposition ; that a land war carried on at such a distance
would waste the blood and treasure of the English nation,
without any hopes of success ; that a sea war, indeed, might
be both safe and successful against Spain, but would not
affect the enemy in such vital parts as to make them stop
their career of success in Germany, and abandon all their
acquisitions ; and that the prospect of recovering the Palati-
nate being at present desperate, the affair was reduced to
this simple question, Whether peace and commerce with
Spain, or the uncertain hopes of plunder and of conquest in
the Indies, were preferable? — a question which, at the be-
ginning of the king's reign, had already been decided, and
perhaps with reason, in favor of the former advantages.
James might have defended his pacific measures by such
plausible arguments ; but these, though the chief, seem not
to have been the sole motives which swayed him. He had
entertained the notion that, as his own justice and modera-
tion had shone out so conspicuously throughout all these
transactions, the whole house of Austria, though not awed
by the power of England, would willingly, f)-om mere re-
spect to his virtue, submit themselves to so equitable an
arbitration. He flattered himself that after he had formed
an intimate connection with the Spanish monarch by means
of his son's marriage, the restitution of the Palatinate might
be procured from the motive alone of friendship and per-
sonal attachment. He perceived not that his inactive vir-
tue, the more it was extolled, the greater disregard was it
exposed to. He was not sensible that the Spanish match
was itself attended with such difliculties that all his art of
negotiation would scarcely be able to sui-mount them ; much
less that this match could, in good policy, be depended on
as the means of procuring such extraordinary advantages.
48 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
His un-warlike disposition, increased by age, riveted him still
faster in his errors, and determined him to seek the restora-
tion of his son-in-law, by remonstrances and entreaties, by
arguments and embassies, rather than by blood andviolence.
And the same defect of courage which held him in awe of
foreign nations made him likewise afraid of shocking the
prejudices of his own subjects, and kept him from openly
avowing the measures which he was determined to pursue.
Or, perhaps, he hoped to turn these prejudices to account,
and by their means engage his people to furnish him with
supplies, of which their excessive frugality had hitherto
made them so sparing and reserved."
He first tried the expedient of a benevolence or free gift
from individuals ; pretending the urgency of the case, which
would not admit of leisure for any other measure ; but the
jealousy of liberty was now roused, and the nation regarded
these pretended benevolences as real extortions, contrary to
law and dangerous to freedom, however authorized by an-
cient precedent. A Parliament was found to be the only
resource which could furnish any large supplies, and writs
■were accordingly issued for summoning that great council
of the nation.!* [1621.]
In this Parliament there appeared, at first, nothing but
duty and submission on the part of the Commons ; and they
seemed determined to sacrifice everything in order to main-
tain a good correspondence with their prince. They would
allow no mention to be made of the new customs or imposi-
tions which had been so eagerly disputed in the former Par-
liament ; " the imprisonment of the members of that Parlia-
ment was here, by some, complained of ; but, by the author-
ity of the graver and more prudent part of the House, that
grievance was buried in oblivion ; '"' and, being informed
that the king had remitted several considerable sums to the
Palatine, the Commons, without a negative, voted him two
subsidies,'^' and that, too, at the very beginning of the ses-
sion, contrary to the maxims frequently adopted by their
predecessors.
Afterwards thejr proceeded, but in a very temperate
manner, to the examination of grievances. They found that
patents had been granted to Sir Giles Mompesson and Sir
Francis Michel for licensing inns and ale-houses ; that great
sums of money had been exacted under pretext of these
1' Franklyn, p. 47. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 21,
'« See note [C] at the end of the volume. '» Journal, December 5 1621
2» Journal, February 12, 16, 1620. =' Journal, February 16, 166o'
HISTOKY OP ENGLAND. 49
licenses ; and that such innkeepers as presumed to continue
their business without satisfying the rapacity of the patentees
had been severely punished by fine, imprisonment, and vex-
atious prosecutions.
The same persons had also procured a patent, which they
shared with Sir Edward Villiers, brother to Buckingham,
for the sole making of gold and silver thread and lace, and
had obtained very extraordinary powers for preventing any
rivalship in these manufactures : they were armed with
authority to search for aU goods which might interfere with
their patent, and even to punish, at their own will and dis-
cretion, the makers, importers, and venders of such commod-
ities. Many had grievously suffered by this exorbitant juris-
diction ; and the lace which had been manufactured by the
patentees was universally found to be adulterated, and to be
composed -moi-e of copper than of the precious metals.
These grievances the Commons represented to the king ;
and they met with a very gracious and very cordial recep-
tion. He seemed even thankful for the information given
him, and declared himself .ashamed that such abuses, unknow-
ingly to him, had crept into his administration. " I assure
you," said he, " had I before heard these things complained
of, I would have done the office of a just king, and out of
Parliament have punished them as severely, and peradven-
ture more than you now intend to do." ^^ A sentence was
passed for the punishment of Michel and Mompesson.^ It
was executed on the former. The latter broke prison and
escaped. Villiers wa:s at that time sent purposely on a for-
eign employment ; and his guilt, being less enormous or less
apparent than that of the others, he was the more easily pro-
tected by the credit of his brother, Buckingham.^
Encouraged by this success, the Commons carried their
scrutiny, and still with a respectful hand, into other abuses
of importance. The great seal was at that time in the hands
of the celebrated Bacon, created Viscount St. Alban's — a
man universally admired for the greatness of his genius, and
beloved for the courteousness and humanity of his behavior.
He was the great ornament of his age and nation, and naught
22 Franklyn, p. 51. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 25.
23 Franklyn, p. 52. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 27.
2^ Telverton, the attorney -general, was accused by the Commons for drawing
the patents for these monopolies, and for supporting them. He apologized for
himself that he was forced by Buckingham, and that he supposed it to be the
king's pleasure. The l.ordfl were so of^ndedat these articles of defence, though
necessary to the attorney-general, that they fined him ten thousand pounds to
the king, Ave thousand to the duke. The fines, however, were afterwards re-
mitted. Franklyn. p. 55. Enshworth, vol. i. pp. 31, 32, etc.
Vol. IV.— 4
50 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
was wanting to render him the ornament of human nature
itself but that strength of mind which might checlc his intem-
perate desu-e of preferment, that could add nothing to his
dignity and might restrain his profuse inclination to expense,
that could be requisite neither for his honor nor entertain-
ment. His want of economy and his indulgence to servants
had involved him in necessities, and, in order to supply his
prodigality, he had been tempted to take bribes by the title
of presents, and that in a very open manner, from suitors in
chancery. It appears that it had been usual for former
chancellors to take presents, and it is pretended Jhat Bacon,
who followed the same dangerous practice, had still, in the
seat of justice, preserved the integrity of a judge, and had
given just decrees against those very jaersons from whom he
had received the wages of iniquity. Complaints rose the
louder on that account, and at last reached the House of
Commons, who sent up an impeachment against him to the
Peers. The chancellor, conscious of guilt, deprecated the
vengeance of his judges, and endeavored, by a general
avowal, to escape the confusion of a stricter inquiry. The
Lords insisted on a particular confession of all his corrup-
tions. He acknowledged twenty -eight articles, and was sen-
tenced to pay a fine of forty thousand pounds, to be impris-
oned in the Tower during the king's pleasure, to be forever
incapable of any office, place, or employment, and never
again to sit in Parliament or come within the verge of the
court.
This dreadful sentence — dreadful to a man of nice sensi-
bility to honor — he survived five years ; and, being released
in a little time from the Tower, his genius, yet unbroken,
supported itself amid involved circumstances and a de-
pressed spirit, and shone out in literary productions which
have made his guilt or weaknesses be forgotten or overlooked
by posterity. In consideration of his great merit the king
remitted his fine as well as all the other parts of his sentence,
conferred on him a large pension of eighteen hundred pounds
a year, and employed every expedient to alleviate the
weight of his age and misfortunes. And that great philos-
opher at last acknowledged with regret that he had too Ion"-
neglected the true ambition of a fine genius, and, by plun It Is tliougM that appeals from chancery to tlie House of Peers first came
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 51
The Commons had entertained the idea that they were
the great patrons of the people, and that the redress of all
grievances must proceed from them ; and to this principle
they were chiefly beholden for the regard and consideration-
of the public. In the execution of this office they now kept
their ears open to complaints of every kind ; and they
carried their researches into many grievances, which, though
of no great importance, could not be touched on without
sensibly affecting the king and his ministers. The prerog-
ative seemed every moment to be invaded ; the king's
authority, in every article, was disputed ; and James, who
was willing to correct the abuses of his power, would not
submit to have his power itself questioned and denied.
After the House, therefore, had sitten near six months, and
had as yet brought no considerable business to a full con-
clusion, the king resolved, under pretence of the advanced
season, to interrupt their proceedings ; and he sent them
word that he was determined in alittle time to adjourn them
till next winter. The Commons made application to the
Lords, and desired them to join in a petition for delaying
the adjournment, which was refused by the Upper House.
The king regarded this project of a joint petition as an at-
tempt to force him from his measures ; he thanked the
Peers for their refusal to concur in it, and told them that,
if it were their desire, he would delay the adjournment, but
would not so far comply with the request of the Lower
House.'^^ And thus, in these great and national affairs, the
same peevishness which in private altercations often raises
a quarrel from the smallest beginnings pi-oduced a mutual
coldness and disgust between the king and the Commons.
During the recess of Parliament, the king used every
measure to render himself popular with the nation, and to
appease the rising ill-humor of its representatives. He had
voluntarily offered the Parliament to circumscribe his own
prerogative, and to abrogate for the futuj-e his power of
granting monopolies. He now recalled all the patents of
that kind, and redressed every article of grievance, to the
number of thirty-seven, which had ever been complained of
in the House of Commons." But he gained not the end
which he proposed. The disgust, which had appeared at
parting, could not so suddenly be dispelled. He had like-
into practice while Bacon held the great seal. Appeals under the form of writ
of error had long before lain against the courts of law. Blaekstone's Comm. vol.
iji. p. 451. " Kushwoith, vol. i. p. 35.
« Kushworth, vol. i. p. 36. Kennet, p. T33. " Journal, lat December, 1621.
52 HISTOEY OP ENGLAND.
wise been so imprudent as to commit to prison Sir Edwin
Sandys,^* without any known cause besides his activity and
vigor in discharging his duty as a member of Parliament.
And, above all, the transactions in Germany were sufficient,
when joined to the king's cautions, negotiations, and delays,
to inflame that jealousy of honor and religion which pre-
vailed throughout the nation.^^ This summer, the ban of
the empire had been published against the Elector Palatine ;
and the execution of it was committed to the Duke of
Bavaria.®" The Upper Palatinate was in a little time con-
quered by that prince, and measures were taken in the
empire for bestowing on him the electoral dignity, of which
the Palatine was then despoiled. Frederick now lived with
his numerous family in poverty and distress, either at Hol-
land or at Sedan, with his uncle the Duke of Bouillon ; and
throughout all the new conquests, in both the palatinates as
well as in Bohemia, Austria, and Lusatia, the progress of the
Austrian arms was attended with rigors and severities, ex-
ercised against the professors of the reformed religion.
The zeal of the Commons immediately moved them, upon
their assembling, to take all these transactions into consider-
ation. They framed a remonstrance, which they intended
to carry to the king. They represented that the enormous
growth of the Austrian power threatened the liberties of
Europe ; that the progress of the Catholic religion in Eng-
land bred the most melancholy apprehensions lest it should
again acquire an ascendant in the kingdom ; that the in-
dulgence of his majesty towards the" professors of that
religion had encouraged their insolence and temerity ; that
the uncontrolled conquests made by the Austrian family in
Germany raised mighty expectations in the English Papists ;
but, above all, that the prospect of the Spanish match el-
evated them so far as to hope for an entire toleration, if not
the final re-establishment, of their religion. The Commons,
therefore, entreated his majesty that he would immediately
undertake the defence of the Palatinate, and maintain it by
'' To show to what degree the nation was inflamed with regard to the Pal-
iitinate, there occurs a remaikable story this session. One Floyd, a prisoner in
the Fleet, a Catholic, had dropped some expressions, in private conversation as
It he were pleased with the misfortunes of the Palatine and his wife. The Com-
mons were In a flame, and, pretending to bo a court of judicature and of record
proceeded to condemn him to a severe punishment. The House of Lords checked
this encroachment ; and, what was extraordinary, considering the present
humor of the Lower House, the latter acquiesced In the sentiments of the Peers
This is almost the only pretension of the English Commons in which they have
not prevailed. Happily for tlie nation, they have been successful in almost all
their other claims. See Parliamentarv History, vol. v. pp. 426, 429, etc. Jour-
nal, 4th, 8th, 12th May, 1621. so Franklyn, p. 73.
HISTOKY OP ENGLAND. 63
force of arms; that he would turn his sword against Spain,
whose armies and treasures were the chief support of the
Catholic interest in Europe ; that he would enter into no
negotiation for the marriage of liis son but with a Protes-
tant princess ; that the children of popish recusants should
be taken from their parents, and be committed to the care
of Protestant teachers and schoolmasters ; and that the fines
and confiscations to which the Catholics were by law liable
should be levied with the utmost severity.'^
By this hold step, unpi'ecedented in England for many
years, and scarcely ever heard of in peaceable times, the
Commons attacked at once all the king's favorite maxims of
government, his cautious and pacific measures, his lenity
towards the Romish religion, and his attachment to the
Spanish alliance, from which he promised himself such
mighty advantages. But what most disgusted him was
their seeming invasion of his prerogative, and their jsretend-
ing, under color of advice, to direct his conduct in such
points as had ever been acknowledged to belong solely to
the management and direction of the sovereign. He was at
that time absent at Newmarket ; but as soon as he heard of
. the intended remonstrance of the Commons, he wrote a
letter to the speaker, in which he sharply rebuked the House
for openly debating matters far above their reach and capacr
ity, and he strictly forbade them to meddle with anything
that regarded his government or deep mattei's of state, and
especially not to touch on his son's mari'iage with the
daughter of Spain, nor to attack the honor of that king, or
any other of his friends and confederates. In order the
more to intimidate them, he mentioned the imprisonment of
Sir Edwin Sandys ; and though he denied that the confine-
ment of that member had been owing to any offence com-
mitted in the House, he plainly told them that he thought
himself fully entitled to punish every misdemeanor in Par-
liament, as well during its sitting as after its dissolution ;
and that he intended thenceforward to chastise any man
whose insolent behavior there should minister occasion of
offence.'^
This violent letter, in which the king, though he here imi-
tated former precedents, may be thought not to have acted
altogether on the defensive, had the effect which might natu-
rally have been expected from it— the Commons were in-
« Franklyn, pp. 58, 59. Eushworth, vol. i. pp. 40, 41. Keniiet, p. 737.
s' Franklyn, p. 60. Basliwortli, vol. i. p . 43. Kenuet, p. 741.
54 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
flamed, not terrified. Secure of their own popularity, and
of the bent of the nation towards a war with the Catholics
abroad, and the persecution of popery at home, they little
dreaded the menaces of a prince who was unsupported by
military force, and whose gentle temper would of itself so
soon disarm his severity. In a new remonstrance, therefore,
they still insisted on their former remonstrance and advice,
and they maintained, though in respectful terms, that they
were entitled to interpose with their counsel in all matters
of government ; that to possess entire freedom of speech, in
their debates on public business, was their ancient and un-
doubted right, and an inheritance transmitted to them from
their ancestors ; and that if any member abused this liberty,
it belonged to the House alone, who were witnesses of his
offence, to inflict a proper censure upon him.''
So vigorous an answer was nowise calculated to appease
the king. It is said, when the approach of the committee
who were to present it was notified to him, he ordered
twelve chairs to be brought, for that there were so many
kings a-coming.'* His answer was prompt and sharp. He
told the House that their remonstrance was more like a
denunciation of war than an address of dutiful subjects ;
that their pretensions to inquire into all state affairs, without
exception, was such a plem'potence as none of their ancestors,
even during the reign of the weakest princes, had ever pre-
tended to ; that public transactions depended on a compli-
cation of views and intelligence with which they were
entirely unacquainted ; that they could not better show their
wisdom as well as duty than by keeping within their proper
sphere ; '^ and that in any business which depended on his
prerogative they had no title to interpose with their advice,
except when he was pleased to desire it ; and he concluded
with these memorable words: "And though we cannot
allow of your style in mentioning your aiicient and un-
doubted right and inheritance, but would rather have wished
that ye had said that your privileges were derived from
the grace and permission of our ancestors, and us (for the
most of them grew from precedents, which shows rather a
toleration than inheritance), yet we are pleased to give you
our royal assurance that as long as you contain yourselves
within the limits of your duty we will be as careful to main-
s' Frsinklyn, p. 60. Eusliwortli, vol. i. p. 44. Kennet, p. 741.
3« Kennet, p. 43.
»" Ne sutor ultra crepidam. This expression is imagined to be insolent and
disobliging ; but it was a Latin proverb familiarly used on all occasions.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 55
tain and preserve your lawful liberties and privileges as
ever any of our predecessors were — nay, as to preserve our
own royal prerogative." '"
This open pretension of the king naturally gave great
alarm to the House of Commons. They saw their title to
every privilege, if not plainly denied, yet considered at least
as precarious. It might be forfeited by abuse, and they
had already abused it. They thought proper, therefore,
immediately to oppose pretension to pretension ; they framed
a protestation in which they repeated all their former claims
for freedom of speech, and an unbounded authority to inter-
pose with their advice and counsel ; and they asserted that
"the liberties, franchises, privileges, and jurisdictions of
Parliament are the ancient and undoubted birthright and
inheritance of the subjects of England." "
The king, informed of these increasing heats and jealous-
ies in the House, hurried to town. He sent immediately for
the journals of the Commons; and, with his own hand,
before the council, he tore out this protestation,'^ and
ordered his reasons to be inserted in the council book. He
was doubly displeased, he said, with the protestation of the
Lower House, on account of the manner of framing it, as
well as of the matter which it contained. It was tumult-
uously voted at a late hour, and in a thin House, and it was
expressed in such general and ambiguous terms as might
serve for a foundation to the most enormous claims and to
the most unwarrantable usurpations upon his prerogative.^'
The meeting of the House might have proved dangerous
after so violent a breach. It was no longer possible, while
men were in such a temper, to finish any business. The
king, therefore, prorogued the Parliament, and soon after
dissolved it by proclamation, in which he also made an
apology to the public for his whole conduct.
The leading members of the House, Sir Edward Coke
and Sir Robert Philips, were committed to the Tower ;
Selden, Pym, and Mallory, to other prisons.*" As a lighter
punishment. Sir Dudley Digges, Sir Thomas Carew, Sir
Nathaniel Rich, Sir James Perrot, joined in commission
with others, were sent to Ireland, in order to execute some
business." The king, at that time, enjoyed, at least exer-
M Franklyn, pp. 62, 63, 64. Eushworth, vol. i. pp. 46, 47, etc. Kennet, p. 743.
37 See note [D] at the end of the volume. ^^ Journal, December 18, 1621.
89 Pranklyn, p. 6S. " Franklyn, p. 66. liushwortli, vol. 1. p. 55.
*i Franklyn, p. 66, Rushworth, vol. i. p. 55.
56 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
cised, the prerogative of employing any man, even without
his consent, in any branch of public service.
Sir John Savile, a po\verf,ul man in the House of Com-
mons, and a zealous opponent of the court, was made comp-
troller of the household, a privy-councillor, and soon after a
baron.*^ This event is memorable, as being the first in-
stance, perhaps, in the whole history of England, of any king's
advancing a man on account of parliamentary interest and
of opposition to his measures. However irregular this
practice, it will be regarded by political reasoners as one of
the most early and most infallible symptoms of a regular
established liberty.
The king having thus, with so rash and indiscreet a hand,
torn off that sacred veil which had hitherto covered the
English constitution, and which threw an obscurity upon it
so advantageous to royal prerogative, every man began to
indulge himself in political reasonings and inquiries; and
the same factions which commenced in Parliament were
propagated throughout the nation. In vain did James by
reiterated proclamations forbid the discoursing of state
affairs.^' Such proclamations, if they had any effect, served
rather to inflame the curiosity of the public; and, in every
company or society, the late transactions became the subject
of argument and debate.
All history, said the partisans of the court, as well as the
history of England, justify the king's position with regard
to the origin of popular privileges; and every reasonable
man must allow that as monarchy is the most simple form
of go\'ernment, it must first have occurred to rude and unin-
structed mankind. The other complicated and artificial ad-
ditions were the successive invention of sovereigns and le"-
islators; or, if they were obtruded on the prince by sedi-
tious subjects, their origin must appear, on that very account,
still more precarious and unfavorable. In England, the au-
thority of the king, in all the exterior forms of govermnent,
and in the common style of law, appears totally absolute
and sovereign ; nor does the real spirit of the constitution,
as it has ever discovered itself in practice, fall much short
of these appearances. The Parliament is created by his
will ; by his will it is dissolved. It is his will alone, though
" Kennet, p. 749.
« Franklyii p. 56. Rushworth, vol. i. pp. 21, 36, S5. The king also in imita-
tion of his predecessors, pave rules lo preachers. Pranklyn, p. 70 Tlie , ,Vinif-
was at that time much more daiiKerous than the press. Few peool'e couia r^n,\
and still £ower were in the practice of reading. f i"^ i-ouiu read.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 57
at the desire of both Houses, which gives authority to laws.
To all foreign nations the majesty of the monarch seems to
merit sole attention and regard ; and no subject who has
exposed himself to royal indignation can hope to live with
safety in the kingdom ; nor can he even leave it, according
to law, without the consent of his master. If a magistrate,
environed with such power and splendor, should consider
his authority as sacred, and regard himself as the anointed
of Heaven, his pretensions may bear a very favorable con-
struction ; or, allowing them to be merely pious frauds, we
need not be surprised that the same stratagem which was
practised by Minos, Numa, and the most celebrated legis-
lators of antiquity, should now, in these restless and inquis-
itive times, be employed by the King of England. Subjects
are not raised above that quality, though assembled in Par-
liament. The same humble respect and deference is still
due to their prince. Though he indulges them in the priv-
ilege of laying before him their domestic grievances, with
which they are supposed to be best acquainted, this war-
rants not their bold intrusion into every province of govern-
ment. And to all judicious examiners it must appear " that
the lines of duty are as much transgressed by a more inde-
pendent and less respectful exercise of acknowledged powers
as by the usurpation of such as are new and unusual."
The lovers of liberty throughout the nation reasoned
after a different manner. It is in vain, said they, that the
king traces up the English government to its first origin, in
order to represent the privileges of Parliament as dependent
and precarious ; prescription, and the practice of so many
ages, must, long ere this time, have given a sanction to
these assemblies, even though they had been derived from
an origin no more dignified than that which he assigns them.
If the written records of the English nation, as asserted, rep-
resent parliaments to have arisen from the consent of mon-
archs, the principles of human nature, when we trace
government a step higher, must show us that monarchs
themselves owe all their authority to the voluntary submis-
sion of the people. But, in fact, no age can be shown when
the English government was altogether an unmixed mon-
archy ; and if the privileges of the nation have, at any
period, been overpowered by violent eruptions of foreign
force or domestic usurpation, the generous spirit of the
jjeojjle has ever seized the first opportunity of re-establish-
ing the ancient govei'nment and constitution. Though in
58 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
the style of the laws, and in the usual forms of administra-
tion, royal authority may be represented as sacred and su-
preme, whatever is essential to the exercise of sovereign and
legislative power must still be regarded as equally divine
and inviolable ; or if any distinction be made in this respect,
the preference is surely due to those national councils by
whose interposition the exorbitances of tyrannical power are
restrained, and that sacred liberty is preserved which heroic
spirits, in all ages, have deemed more precious than life
itself. Nor is it sufficient to say that the mild and equitable
administration of James affords little occasion, or no occa-
sion, of complaint. How moderate soever the exercise of
his prerogative, how exact soever his observance of the laws
and constitution, " if he founds his authority on arbitrary
and dangerous principles, it is requisite to watch him with
the same care, and to oppose him with the same vigor, as if
he had indulged himself in all the excesses of cruelty and
tyranny."
Amid these disputes, the wise and moderate in the na-
tion endeavored to preserve, as much as possible, an equit-
able neutrality between the opposite parties ; and the more
they reflected on the course of public affairs, the greater
difficulty they found in fixing just sentiments with regard
to them. On the one hand, they regarded the very rise of
parties as a happy prognostic of the establishment of lib-
erty ; nor could they ever expect to enjoy, in a mixed gov-
ernment, so valuable a blessing without suffering that incon-
venience which, in such governments, has ever attended it.
But when they considered on the other hand, the necessary
aims and pursuits of both parties, they were struck with
apprehension of the consequences, and" could discover no
feasible plan of accommodation between them. From lono-
practice, the crown was now possessed of so exorbitant a
prerogative that it was not sufficient for liberty to remain
on the defensive, or endeavor to secure the little ground
which was left her ; it was become necessary to carry on an
offensive war, and to circumscribe within more narrow as
well as more exact bounds the authority of the sovereign.
Upon such provocation, it could not but happen that the
prince, however just and moderate, would endeavor to re-
press his opponents ; and, as he stood upon the very brink
of arbitrary power, it was to be feared that he wouldhastily
and' unknowingly pass those limits which were not precisely
marked by the constitution. The turbulent government of
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND 59
England, ever fluctuating between privilege and prerogative,
would afford a variety of precedents, which might be plead-
ed on both sides. In such delicate questions, the people
must be divided ; the arms of the state were still in their
hands ; a civil war must ensue — a civil war where no party
or both parties would justly bear the blame, and where the
good and virtuous would scarcely know what vows to form,
were it not that liberty, so necessary to the perfection of
human society, would be sufficient to bias their affections
towards the side of its defenders.
60 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER XLIX.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH EBGAED TO THE MARRIAGE AND THE
PALATINATE. CHARACTER OP BUCKINGHAM. PRINCE's
JOURNEY TO SPAIN. MARRIAGE TREATY BROKEN. A
PARLIAMENT. RETURN OF BRISTOL. RUPTURE WITH
SPAIN. TREATY WITH PRANCE. MANSFELDt's EXPEDI-
TION. DEATH OF THE KING. HIS CHARACTER.
[1622.] To wrest the Palatinate from the hands of the
emperor and the Duke of Bavaria must always have been
regarded as a difficult task for the power of England, con-
ducted by so unwarlike a prince as James : it was plainly
ir^possible while the breach subsisted between him and the
Commons. The king's negotiations, therefore, had they
been managed with ever so great dexterity, must now carry
less weight with them ; and it was easy to elude all his ap-
plications. When Lord Digby, his ambassador to the em-
peror, had desired a cessation of hostilities, he was referred
to the Duke of Bavaria, who commanded the Austrian
armies. The Duke of Bavaria told him that it was entirely
superfluous to form any treaty for that purpose. " Hostili-
ties are already ceased," said he; " and I doubt not but I
shall be able to pirevent their revival by keepmg firm posses-
sion of the Palatinate till a final agreement shall be cortclud-
ed between the contending parties."^ Notwithstanding
this insult, James endeavored to resume with the emperor a
treaty of accommodation ; and he opened the negotiations
at Brussels, under the mediation of Archduke Albert ; and
after his death, which happened about this time, under that
of the infanta. When the conferences were entered upon,
it was found that the powers of these princes to determine
in the controversy were not sufficient or satisfactory.
Schwartzenbourg, the imperial minister, was expected at
London, and it was hoped that he would bring more ample
authority : his commission referred entirely to the negotia-
tion at Brussels. It was not difficult for the king to per-
ceive that his applications were neglected by the emperor •
» Franklyn, p 57. RuBhworth, vol. i. p. 38.
HISTORY OP EWGLAlSrD. 61
but as he had no choice of any other expedient, and it
seemed the interest of his son-in-law to keep alive his pre-
tensions, he was still content to follow Ferdinand through
all his shifts and evasions. Nor was he entirely discouraged,
even when the imperial diet at Ratisbon, by the influence,
or rather authority, of the emperor, though contrary to the
protestation of Saxony and of all the Protestant princes and
cities, had transferred the electoral dignity from the Pala-
tine to the Duke of Bavaria.
Meanwhile, the efforts made by Frederick for the re-
covery of his dominions were vigorous. Three armies were
levied in Germany by his authority, under three com-
;manders — Duke Christian of Brunswick, the Prince of
Baden-Dourlach, and Count Mansfeldt. The two former
generals were defeated by Count Tilly and the imperialists ;
the third, though much inferior in force to his enemies, still
maintained the war, but with no equal supplies of money
either from the Palatine or the King of England. It was
chiefly by pillage and free quarters in the Palatinate that he
subsisted his army. As the Austrians were regularly paid,
they were kept in more exact discipline ; and James justly
became apprehensive lest so unequal a contest, besides ravag-
ing the Palatine's hereditary dominions, would end in the
total alienation of the people's affections from their ancient
sovereign, by whom they were plundered, and in an attach-
ment to their new masters, by whom they were protected.''
He persuaded, therefore, his son-in-law to disarm, under
color of duty and submission to the emperor; and, accord-
ingly, Mansfeldt was dismissed from the Palatine's service,
and that famous general withdrew his array into the Low
Countries, and there received a commission from the States
of the United Provinces.
To show how little account was made of James's negotia-
tions abroad, there is a pleasantry mentioned by all his-
torians, which for that reason shall have place here. In a
farce acted at Brussels, a courier was introduced carrying
the doleful news that the Palatinate would be soon wrested
from the house of Austria, so powerful were the succors
which, from all quarters, were hastening to the relief of the
despoiled Elector: the King of Denmark had agreed to
contribute to his assistance a hundred thousand pickled
herrings, the Dutch a hundred thousand butter-boxes, and
the King of England a hundred thousand ambassadors. On
2 Parliamentary History, vol. v. p. 484.
62 HISTOET OF ENGLANB.'
other occasions he was painted with a scabbard, but -with-
out a sword, or with a sword which nobody could draw,
though several were pulling at it.^
It was not from his negotiations with the emperor or the
Duke of Bavaria that James expected any success in his
project of restoring the Palatine : his eyes were entirely
turned towards Spain ; and if he could effect his son's mar-
riage with the infanta, he doubted not but that, after so in-
timate a conjunction, this other point could easily be
obtained. The negotiations of that court being commonly
dilatory, it was not easy for a prince of so little penetration
in business to distinguish whether the difficulties which
occurred were real or affected ; and he was surprised, after
negotiating five years on so simple a demand, that he was
not more advanced than at the beginning. A dispensation
from Rome was requisite for the marriage of the infanta with
a Protestant prince ; and the King of Spain, having under-
taken to procure that dispensation, had thereby acquired
the means of retarding at pleasure or of forwarding the mar-
riage, and at the same time of concealing entirely his artifices
from the court of England. j
In order to remove all obstacles, James despatched
Digby, soon after created Earl of Bristol, as his ambassador
to Philip IV., who had lately succeeded his father in the
crown of Spain. He secretly employed Gage as his agent at
Rome ; and finding that the difference of religion was the
principal, if not the sole, difficulty which retarded the mar-
riage, he resolved to soften that objection as much as
possible. He issued public orders for discharging all popish
recusants who were imprisoned ; and it was daily appre-
hended that he would forbid, for the future, the execution
of the penal laws enacted against them. For this step, so
opposite to the rigid spirit of his subjects, he took care to
apologize ; and he even endeavored to ascribe it to his great
zeal for the reformed religion. He had been making appli-
cations, he said, to all foreign princes for some indulgence
to the distressed Protestants ; and he was still answered by
objections derived from the severity of the English laws
against Catholics.^ It might indeed occur to him that if the
extremity of religious zeal were ever to abate among
Christian sects, one of them must begin ; and nothino' would
be more honorable for England than to have led the'^way in
sentiments so wise and moderate.
s Kennet, p. 749. * FranUyn, p. 69. Eushworth, vol. i. p. 63.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 63
Not only the religious Puritans murmured at this toler-
ating measure of the king ; the lovers of civil liberty were
alarmed at so important an exertion of prerogative. But,
among other dangerous articles of authority, the Kings of
England were at that time possessed of the dispensing
power ; at least, were in the constant practice of exercising
it. Besides, though the royal prerogative in civil matters
was then extensive, the princes, during some late reigns,
had been accustomed to assume a still greater in ecclesias-
tical ; and the king failed not to represent the toleration of
Catholics as a measure entirely of that nature.
By James's concession in favor of the Catholics, he at-
tained his end. The same religious motives which had
hitherto rendered the court of Madrid insincere in all the
steps taken with regard to the marriage were now the chief
jcause of promoting it. By its means it was there hoped the
English Catholics would for the future enjoy ease and indul-
gence, and the infanta would be the happy instrument of
procuring to the Church some tranquillity, after the many
severe persecutions which it had hitherto undergone. . The
Earl of Bristol, a minister of vigilance and penetration, and
who had formerly opposed all alliance with Catholics,* was
now fully convinced of the sincerity of Spain ; and he was
ready to congratulate the king on the entire completion of
his views and projects.' A daughter of Spain, whom he
represents as extremely accomplished, would soon, he said,
arrive in England, and bring with her an immense fortune
of two millions of pieces of eight, or six hundred thousand
pounds sterling — a sum four times greater than Spain had
ever before given with any princess, and almost equal to all
the money which the Parliament, during the whole course
of this reign, had hitherto granted to the king. But what
was of more importance to James's honor and happiness,
Bristol considered this match as an infallible prognostic of
the Palatine's restoration; nor would Philip, he thought,
ever have bestowed his sister and so large a fortune under
the prospect of entering next day into a war with England.
So exact was his intelligence that the most secret counsels
of the Spaniards, he boasts, had never escaped him;' and he
found that they had all along considered the marriage of the
infanta and the restitution of the Palatinate as measures
6 Rushworth, vol. i. p. 292.
• Busiworth, TOl. i. p. 69. ' Kushworth, Tol. i. p. 272.
64 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
closely connected or altogether inseparable.' However
little calculated James's character to extort so vast a con-
cession, however improper the measures which he had pur-
sued for attaining that end, the ambassador could not with-
stand the plain evidence of facts by which Philip now
demonstrated his sincerity. Perhaps, too, like a wise man,
he considered that reasons of state, which are supposed
solely to influence the councils of monarchs, are not always
the motives which there predominate ; that the milder views
of gratitude, honor, friendship, generosity, are frequently
able, among princes as well as private persons, to counter-
balance these selfish considerations ; that the justice and
moderation of James had been so conspicuous in all these
transactions, his reliance on Spain, his confidence in her
friendship, that he had at last obtained the cordial alliance
of that nation, so celebrated for honor and fidelity : or if
politics must still be supposed the ruling motive of all public
measures, the maritime power of England was so consider-
able, and the Spanish dominions so divided, as might well
induce the council of Philip to think that a sincere friend-
ship with the masters of the sea could not be purchased by
too great concessions.' And as James, during so many
years, had been allured and seduced by hopes and protesta^
tions, his people enraged by delays and disappointments, it
would probably occur thatthere was now no medium left
between the most inveterate hatred and the most intimate
alliance between the nations; not to mention that, as a new
spirit began about this time to animate the councils of
France, the friendship of England became every day more
necessary to the greatness and security of the S'panish
monarch.
All measures being, therefore, agreed on between the
parties, nsiught was wanting but the dispensation from
Rome, which miglit be considered as a mere formality.^"
The king, justified by success, now exulted in his pacific
counsels, and boasted of his superior sagacity and pene-
tration, when all these flattering prospects were blasted by
the temerity of a man whom he had fondly exalted from a
private condition to be the bane of himself, of his family,
and of his people. •'
K., n Y^i IV*^ ''/ "^"f^ letters between Philip IV. and the Conde Olivarez, shown
by the latter to Buckingham, that the marriage and tlie restitution of thipTi
atinate were a ways considered by the court of Spain as inseparable See
Franklyn, pp. 71, 72. Enshworth vol. 1. pp. 71, 280, 299, 300. Pari. lUst vol vT
P- SIS- • Franklyn, p. 72. lo Kushworth, vol. i p ee
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 65
Ever since the fall of Somerset, Buckingham had gov-
erned, with an uncontrolled sway, both the court and
nation ; and could James's eyes have been opened, he had
now full opportunity of observing how unfit his favorite was
iov the high station to which he was raised. Some accom-
plishments of a courtier he possessed — of eyery talent of a
minister he was utterly destitute. Headstrong in his pas-
sions, and incapable equally of prudence and of dis-
simulation ; sincere from violence rather than candor ;
expensive from profusion more than generosity ; a warm
fi'iend, a furious enemy, but without any choice or discern-
ment in either : with these qualities he had early and
quickly mounted to the highest rank, and partook at once
of the insolence which attends a fortune newly acquired
and the impetuosity which belongs to persons born in high
stations and unacquainted with opposition.
[1623.] Among those who had experienced the arrogance
of this overgrown favorite, the Prince of Wales himself had
not been entirely spared ; and a great coldness, if not an en-
mity, had, for that reason, taken place between them.
Buckingham, desirous of an opportunity which might con-
nect him with the prince and overcome his aversion, and at
the same time envious of the great credit acquired by Bris-
tol in the Spanish negotiation, bethought him of an expe-
dient by which he might at once gratify both these incli-
nations. He represented to Charles that persons of his
exalted station were peculiarly unfortunate in their mar-
riage, the chief circumstance in life, and commonly re-
ceived into their arms a bride unknown to them, to whom
they were unknown ; not endeared by sympathy, not
obliged by service ; wooed by treaties alone, by negotia-
tions, by political interest ; that, however accomplished
tlie infanta, she must still consider herself as a melan-
choly victim of state, and could not but think wit-h
aversion of that day when she was to enter the bed of a
stranger, and, passing into a foreign country and a new
family, bid adieu forever to her father's house and to her
native land ; that it was in the prince's power to soften all
these rigors, and lay such an obligation on her as would
attach the most indifferent temper, as would warm the
coldest affections ; that his journey to Madrid would be an
unexpected gallantry which would equal all the fictions of
Spanish romance, and, suiting the amorous and enterprising
character of that nation, must immediately introduce him
Vol. IV.— 5
66 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
to the princess under the agreeable character of a devoted
lover and daring adventurer; that the negotiations with
regard to the Palatinate, which had hitherto languished in
the hands of ministers, would quickly be terminated by so
illustrious an agent, seconded by the mediation and en-
treaties of the grateful infanta ; that Spanish generosity,
moved by that unexampled trust and confidence, would
make concessions beyond what could be expected from
political views and considerations ; and that he would
quickly return to the king with the glory of having re-
established the unhappy Palatine by the same enterprise
which procured him the affections and the person of the
Spanish princess.^^
The mind of the young prince, replete with candor, was
inflamed by these generous and romantic ideas, suggested
by Buckingham. He agreed to make application to the
king for his approbation. They chose the moment of his
kindest and most jovial humor, and, more by the earnest-
ness which they expressed than by the force of their reasons,
they obtained a hasty and unguarded consent to their un-
dertaking ; and, having engaged his promise to keep their
purpose secret, they left him in order to make preparations
for the journey.
No sooner was the king alone than his temper, more
cautious than sanguine, suggested very different views of
the matter, and represented, every difficulty and danger
which could occur. He reflected that, however the world
might pardon this sally of youth in the prince, they would
never forgive himself, who, at his years and after his
experience, could intrust his onlj' son, the heir of his crown,
the prop of his age, to the discretion of foreigners, without
so much as providing the frail security of a safe-conduct in
his favor ; that if the Spanish monarch were sincere in his
professions, a few months must finish the treaty of marriage
and bring the infanta into England ; if he were not sincere,
the folly was still more egregious of committing the prince
into his hands ; that Philip, when possessed of so invaluable
a pledge, might well rise in his demands and impose harder
conditions of treaty ; and that the temerity of the enter-
prise was so apparent that the event, how prosperous
soever, could not justify it; and if disastrous, it would
render himself infamous to his people and ridiculous to all
posterity.''''
« Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 11, 12. u Clarendon, vol. i. p. I4.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 67
Tormented with these reflections, as soon as the prince
and Buckingham returned for their despatches, he informed
them of all the reasons which had determined him to change
his resolution, and he begged them to desist from so foolish
an adventure. The prince received the disappointment
with sorrowful submission and silent tears ; Buckingham
presumed to speak in an imperious tone, which he had ever
experienced to be prevalent over his too easy master. He
told the king that nobody for the future would believe any-
thing he said when he retracted so soon the promise so
solemnly given ; that he plainly discerned this change of
resolution to pi-oceed from another breach of his word in
communicating the matter to some rascal who had furnished
him with those pitiful reasons which he had alleged, and he
doubted not but he should hereafter know who his coun-
sellor had been ; and that if he receded from what he had
promised, it would be such a disobligation to the prince,
who had now set his heart . upon the journey aftfer his
majesty's approbation, that he could never forget it, nor
forgive any man who had been the cause of it.^^
The king, with great earnestness, fortified by many
oaths, made his apology by denying that he had commu-
nicated the matter to. any ; and, finding himself assailed as
well by the boisterous importunities of Buckingham as by
the warm entreaties of his son, whose applications had
hitherto on other occasions been always dutiful, never
earnest, he had again the weakness to assent to their pur-
posed journey. It was agreed that Sir Francis Cottington
alone, the prince's secretar}-, and Endymion Porter, gen-
tleman of his bedchamber, should accompany them ; and the
former being at that time in the antechamber, he was im-
mediately called in by the king's orders.
James told Cottington that he had always been an
honest man, and therefore he was now to trust him in an
affair of the highest importance, which he was not, upon his
life, to disclose to any man whatever. " Cottington," added
he, " here is baby Charles and Stenny " (these ridiculous
appellations he usually gave to the prince and Bucking-
ham), " who have a great mind to go post into Spain and
fetch home the infanta : they will have but two more in
their company, and have chosen you for one. What think
you of the journey ? " Sir Francis, who was a prudent
man, and had resided some years in Spain as the king's
13 Clarendon, vol. i. p. 16.
68 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
agent, was struck with all the obvious objections to such
an enterprise, and scrupled not to declare them. The king
threw himself upon his bed, and cried, " I told you this
before ;" and fell into a new passion and new lamentations,
complaining that he was undone, and should lose baby
Charles.
The prince showed by his countenance that he was ex-
tremely dissatisfied by Cottington's discourse, but Bucking-
ham broke into an open passion against him. The king, he
told him, asked him only of the journey, and of the manner
of travelling, particulars of which he might be a competent
judge, having gone the road so often by post ; but that he,
without being called to it, had the presumption to give his
advice upon matters of state and against his master, which
he should repent as long as he lived. A thousand other re-
proaches he added, which put the poor king into a new
agony in behalf of a servant who, he foresaw, would suffer
for answering him honestly. Upon which he said, with
some emotion, "Nay, by God, Stenny, you are much to
blame for using him so : he answered me directly to the
question which I asked him, and very honestly and wisely ;
and yet, you know, he said no more than I told you before
he was called in." However, after all this passion on both
sides, James renewed his consent, and proper dii-ections
were given for the journey ; nor was he now at any loss to
discover that the whole intrigue was originally contrived by
Buckingham, as well as pursued violently by his spirit and
impetuosity.
These circumstances, which so well characterize, the per-
sons, seem to have been related by Cottington to Lord
Clarendon, from whom they are here transcribed ; and,
though minute, are not undeserving of a place in history.
The prince and Buckingham, with their two attendants,
and Sir Richard Graham, master of horse to Buckingham,
passed disguised and undiscovered through France ; and
they even ventured into a court ball at Paris, where Charles
saw the Princess Henrietta, whom he afterwards espoused,
and who was at that time in the bloom of youth and beauty.
In eleven days after their departure from London they ar-
rived at Madrid, and s.irprised everybody by a step so un-
usual among great princes. The Spanish monarch imme-
diately paid Charles a visit, expressed the utmost gratitude
for the confidence reposed in him, and made warm protes-
tations of a correspondent confidence and friendship. By
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 69
the most studious civilities, he showed the respect which he
bore to his royal guest. He gave him a golden key which
opened all his apartments, that the prince might, without
any introduction, have access to him at all hours ; he took
the left hand of him on every occasion, except in the apart-
ments assigned to Charles — for there, he said, the prince
was at home ; Charles was introduced into the palace with
the same pomp and ceremony that attends the Kings of
Spain on their coronation ; the council received public orders
to obey him as the king himself ; Olivarez, too, though a
grandee of Spain, who has the right of being covered before
his own king, would not put on his hat in the prince's pres-
ence ; " all the prisons of Spain were thrown open, and all
the prisoners received their freedom, as if the event the
most honorable and most fortunate had happened to the
monarchy ; ^^ and every sumptuary law with regard to ap-
parel was suspended during Charles's residence in Spain.
The infanta, however, was only shown to her lover in pul)-
lic, the Spanish ideas of decency being so strict as not to
allow of any further intercourse till the arrival of the dis-
pensation.^^
The point of honor was carried so far by that generous
people that no attempt was made, on account of the advan-
tage which they had acquired, of imposing any harder con-
ditions of treaty. Their pious zeal only prompted them, on
one occasion, to desire more concessions in the religious
articles ; but upon the opposition of Biistol, accompanied
•with sbme reproaches, they immediately desisted. The
pope, however, hearing of the prince's arrival in Madrid,
tacked some new clauses to the dispensation ; " and it be-
came necessary to transmit the articles to London, that the
king might ratify them. This treaty, which was made pub-
lic, consisted of several articles, chiefly regarding the exer-
cise of the Catholic religion by the infanta and her house-
hold. Nothing could reasonably be found fault with, except
one article, in which the king prornised that the children
should be educated by the princess till ten years of age.
This condition could not be insisted on but with a view of
seasoning their minds with Catholic princijales ; and though
so tender an age seemed a sufficient security against the-
ological prejudices, yet the same reason which made the
" Franklyn, p. 73. '" Franklyn, p. 74.
JO KuBhworth, vol. j. p. 77. " Eushworth, vol. i. p. 81.
70 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
pope insert ttat article should have induced the king to re-
ject it.
Besides the public treaty, there were separate articles,
privately sworn to by the king, in which he promised to
suspend the penal laws enacted against Catholics, to procure
a repeal of them in Parliament, and to grant a toleration
for the exercise of the Catholic religion in private houses.^*
Great murmurs, we may believe, would have arisen aganist
these articles, had they been made known to the public ;
since we find it to have been imputed as an enormous crime
to the prince that, having received, about this time, a very
civil letter from the pope, he was induced to return a very
civil answer.'''
Meanwhile, Gregory XV., who granted the dispensation,
died, and Urban VIII. was chosen in his place. Upon this
event the nuncio refused to deliver the dispensation till it
should be renewed by Urban ; and that crafty pontiff de-
layed sending a new dispensation, in hopes that, during the
prince's residence in Spain, some expedient might be fallen
upon to effect his conversion. The King of England, as
well as the prince, became impatient. On the first hint,
Charles obtained permission to return, and Philip graced
his departure with all the circumstances of elaborate civil-
ity and respect which had attended his reception. He even
erected a pillar on the spot where they took leave of each
other, as a monument of mutual friendship ; and the prince,
having sworn to the observance of all the articles, entered
on his journey, and embarked on board the English fleet at
St. Andero.
The character of Charles, composed of decency, reserve,
modesty, sobriety — virtues so agreeable to the manners of
the Spaniards ; the unparalleled confidence which he had re-
posed in their nation; the romantic gallantry which he had
practised towards their princess ; all these" circumstances,
joined to his youth and advantageous figure, had endeared
him to the whole court of Madrid, and had impressed the
most favorable ideas of him.'^" But in the same proportion
that the prince was beloved and esteemed was Buckingham
despised and hated. His behavior, composed of Errglish
familiarity and French vivacity; his sallies of passion;
his indecent freedoms with the prince ; his dissolute pleas-
'8 Franklyn, p. 80. Eushworth, vol. i. p. 89. Kennet, p. 769.
" Rushworth, vol. i. p. 82. Franklyn, p. 77.
" Franklyn, p. 80. Eushworth, vol. i. p. 103.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 71
ures ; his arrogant, impetuous temper, which he neither
could nor cared to disguise — qualities like these could, most
of them, be esteemed nowhere, but to the Spaniards were
the objects of peculiar aversion." They could not conceal
their surprise that such a youth could intrude into a negoti-
ation now conducted to a period by so accomplished a min-
ister as Bristol, and could assume to himself all the merit
of it ; they lamented the infanta's fate, who must be ap-
proached by a man whose temerity seemed to respect no
laws, divine or human ;^^ and when they observed that he
had the imprudence to insult the Conde Duke of Olivarez,
their prime minister, every one who was ambitious of paying
court to the Spanish became desirous of showing a contempt
for the English favorite.
The Duke of Buckingham told Olivarez that his own at-
tachment to the Spanish nation and to the King of Spain
was extreme, that he would contribute to every measure
which could cement the friendship between England and
them, and that his peculiar ambition would be to facilitate
the prince's marriage with the infanta ; but he added, with
a sincerity equally insolent and indiscreet, " With regard to
you, sir, in particular, you must not consider me as your
friend, but must ever expect from me all possible enmity
and opposition." The Conde Duke replied, with a beconi-
ing dignity, that he very willingly accepted of what was
proffered him ; and on these terms the favorites parted.^"
Buckingham, sensible how odious he was become to the
Spaniards, and dreading the influence which that nation
would naturally acquire after the arrival of the infanta, re-
solved to employ all his credit in order to prevent the mar-
riage. By what arguments he could engage the prince to
offer such an insult to the Spanish nation, from whom he had
met with such generous treatment ; by what colors he could
disguise the ingratitude and imprudence of such a measure —
these are totally unknown to us. We may only conjecture
that the many unavoidable causes of delay which had so long
prevented the arrival of the dispensation had afforded to
Buckingham a pretence for throwing on the Spaniards the
imputation of insincerity in the whole treaty. It also ap-
pears that his impetuous and domineering character had ac-
quired, what it ever after maintained, a total ascendant over
the gentle and modest temper of Charles ; and when the
21 Kushworth, vol. i. p. 101. m Clarendon, vol. i. p. 36.
23 EaBhwortli, toI. i. p. 103. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 37.
72 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
prince left Madrid he was firmly determined, notwithstand-
ing all his professions, to break off the treaty with Spain.
It is not likely that Buckingham prevailed so easily with
James to abandon a project which, during so many years,
bad been the object of all his wishes, and which he had now
unexpectedly conducted to a happy period.^ A rupture
with Spain, the loss of two millions, were prospects little
agreeable to this pacific and indigent monarch; but finding -
his only son bent against a match which had always been
opposed by his people and his Parliament, he yielded to
difficulties which he had not courage or strength of mind
sufficient to overcome. The prince, therefore, and Buck-
ingham, on their arrival at London, assumed entirely the
direction of the negotiation, and it was their business to seek
for pretences, by which they could give a color to their in-
tended breach of treaty.
Though the restitution of the Palatinate had ever been
considered by James as a natural or necessary consequence
of the Spanish alliance, he had always forbidden his minis-
ters to insist on it as a preliminary article to the conclusion
of the marriage treaty. He considered that this principality
was now in the hands of the emperor and the Duke of Ba-
varia; and that it was no longer in the King of Spain's
power, by a single stroke of his pen, to restore it to its an-
cient master. The strict alliance of Spain with these princes
would engage Philip, he thought, to soften so disagreeable a
demand by every art of negotiation ; and many articles
must of necessity be adjusted before such an important point
could be effected. It was suflicient, in James's opinion, if
the sincei-ity of the Spanish court could for the present be
ascertained ; and, dreading further delays of the marriarosecu-
tion of this noble principle into all its natural conscr(uences
has at last, through many contests, produced that sino-ular
and happy government which we enjoy at prescnt.^i °
The House of Commons also corroborated, by a new
precedent, the important power of impeachment, which, two
3» See note [F] at the end o£ the volume. ss Kushworth, vol. i, p 137
*" Less than three hundred thousand pounds.
*' See jiote [GJ at the cud of the volume..
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 77
years before, they had exercised in the case of Chancellor
Bacon, and which had lain dormant for near two centuries,
exceiJt when they served as instruments of royal vengeance.
The Earl of Middlesex had been raised, by Buckingham's
interest, from the rank of a London merchant to be treas-
urer of England ; and, by his activity and address, seemed
not unworthy of that preferment. But as he incurred the
displeasure of his patron by scrupling or refusing some de-
mands of money during the prince's residence in Spain, that
favorite vowed revenge, and employed all his credit among
the Commons to procure an impeachment of the treasurer.
The king was extremely dissatisfied with this measure, and
prophesied to the prince and duke that they would live to
have their fill of parliamentary prosecutions.*^ In a speech
to the Parliament, he endeavored to apologize for Middle-
sex, and to soften the accusation against him.*^ The charge,
however, was still maintained by the Commons ; and the
treasurer was found guilty by the Peers, though the misde-
meanors proved against him were neither numerous nor im-
portant. The accepting of two presents of five hundred
pounds apiece, for passing two patents, was the article of
greatest weight. His sentence was to be fined fifty thou-
sand pounds for the king's use, and to suffer all the other
penalties formerly inflicted upon Bacon. The fine was
afterwards remitted by the prince when he mounted the
throne.
This session an address was also made, very disagree-
able to the king, craving the severe execution of the laws
against Catholics. His answer was gracious and conde-
scending;" though he declared against persecution as be-
ing an improper measure for the suppression of any relig-
ion, according to the received maxim "that the blood of the
martyrs was the seed of the Church." He also condemned
an entire indulgence of the Catholics, and seemed to repre-
sent a middle course as the most humane and most politic.
He went so far as even to affirm, with an oath, that he
never had entertained any thoughts of granting a toleration
to these religionists." The liberty of exercising their wor-
ship in private houses, which he had secretly agreed to in
the Spanish treaty, did not appear to him deserving that
name, and it was probably by means of this explication he
thought that he had saved his honor ; and as Buckinghafn,
« Clarendon, vol. i. p. 23. '^ Parliamentary History, vol. vi. p. 19.
" Franklyn, pp. 101, 102. « See, further, Frauklyn, p. 87.
78 IIISTOKY or ENGLAND.
in his narrative," confessed that the king had agreed to a
temporary suspension of the penal laws against the Catho-
lics, which he distinguished from a toleration, a term at that
time extremely odious, James naturally deemed his meaning
to be sufficiently explained, and feared not any reproach of
falsehood or duplicity on account of this asseveration. After
all these transactions, the Parliament was prorogued by the
king, who let fall some hints, though in gentle terms, of the
sense which he entertained of their unkindness in not sup-
plying his necessities."
James, unable to resist so strong a combination as that
of his people, his Parliament, his son, and his favorite, had
been compelled to embrace measures for which, from tem-
per as well as judgment, he had ever entertained a most set
tied aversion. Though he dissembled his resentment, he
began to estrange himself from Buckingham, to whom he
ascribed all those violent counsels, and whom he considered
as the author both of the prince's journey to Spain and of
the breach of the marriage treaty. The arrival of Bristol
he impatiently longed for ; and it was by the assistance of
that minister, whose wisdom he respected and whose views
he approved, that he hoi:)ed in time to extricate himself from
his present difficulties.
During the prince's abode in Spain, that able negotiator
had ever opposed, though unsuccessfully, to the impetuous
measures suggested by Buckingham his own Avise and well-
tempered counsels. After Chai-les's departure he still, upon
the first appearance of a change of resolution, interposed
his advice, and strenuously insisted on the sincerity of the
Spaniards in the conduct of the treaty as well as the advan-
tages which England must reap from the completion of it.
Enraged to find that his successful labors should be rendered
abortive by the levities and caprices of an insolent minion,
he would understand no hints ; and nothing but express
orders from his master could engage him to make that de-
mand which he was sensible must put a final period to the
treaty. He was not therefore surprised to hear that Buck-
ingham had declared himself his open enemy, and, on all
occasions, had thrown out many violent reflections against
him.
Nothing could be of greater consequence to Buckingham
than to keep Bristol at a distance, both from the kin? and
the Parliament, lest the power of truth enforced by so%vell-
*' Parliamentary History, vol. yi. p. 37. *' Franklyn, p. 103.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 79
informed a speaker should open scenes which were but sus-
pected by the former, and of which the latter had as yet
entertained no manner of jealousy. He applied, therefore,
to James, whose weakness, disguised to himself under the
appearance of finesse and dissimulation, was now become
absolutely incurable. A warrant for sending Bristol to the
Tower was issued immediately upon his arrival in England ; ^'
and though he was soon released from confinement, yet or-
ders were carried him from the king to retire to his country-
seat and to abstain from all attendance in Parliament. He
obeyed ; but loudly demanded an opportunity of justifying
himself, and of laying his whole conduct before his master.
On all occasions he protested his innocence, and threw on
his enemy the blame of every miscarriage. Buckingham,
and at his instigation the prince, declared that they would
be reconciled to Bristol if he would but acknowledge his
errors and ill-conduct ; but the spirited nobleman, jealous of
his honor, refused to buy favor at so high a price. James
had the equity to say that the insisting on that condition
was a strain of unexampled tyranny ; but Buckingham
scrupled not to assert, with his usual presumption, that
neither the king, the prince, nor himself, was as yet satisfied
of Bristol's innocence.^'
While the attachment of the prince to Buckingham,
while the timidity of James, or the shame of changing his
favorite, kept the whole court in awe, the Spanish ambas-
sador, Inoiosa, endeavored to open the king's eyes, and to
cure his fears by instilling greater fears into him. He pri-
vately slipped into his hand a paper, and gave him a signal
to read it alone. He there told him that he was as much a
prisoner at London as ever Francis I. was at Madrid ; that
the prince and Buckingham had conspired together and had
the whole court at their devotion ; that cabals among the pop-
ular leaders in Pai-liament were carrying on to the extreme
prejudice of his authority ; that the project was to confine
him to some of his hunting-seats, and to commit the whole
administration to Charles ; and that it was necessary for him
by one vigorous effort to vindicate his authority and to
punish those who had so long and so much abused his friend-
ship and beneficence.^
What credit James gave to this representation does not
appear. He only discovered , some faint symptoms, which
" Eushworth, vol. i. p. 145. <' Rushworth, vol. i. p. 259.
'» Eushworth, vol. i. p. 144. Hacket's Life ol Williams. Coke, p. 107.
80 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
he instantly retracted, of dissatisfaction with Buckingham.
All his public measures, and all the alliances into which he
entered, were founded on the system of enmity to the Aus-
trian family and of war to be carried on for the recovery of
the Palatinate.
The States of the United Provinces were at this time
governed by Maurice ; and that aspiring prince, sensible that
his credit would languish during peace, had, on the expira-
tion of the twelve years' truce, renewed the war with the
Spanish monarchy. His great capacity in the military art
would have compensated the inferiority of his forces, had
not the Spanish armies been commanded by Spinola, a gen-
eral equally renowned for conduct and more celebrated for
enterprise and activity. In such a situation nothing could
be more welcome to the republic than the prospect of a
rupture between James and the Catholic king; and they
flattered themselves, as well from the natural union of in-
terests between them and England as from the influence of
the present conjuncture, that powerful succors would soon
march to their relief. Accordingly, an army of six thousand
men was levied in England and sent over to Holland, com-
manded by four young noblemen — Essex, Oxford, South-
ampton, and Willoughby — who were ambitious of distinguish-
ing themselves in so popular a cause, and of acquiring mili-
tary experience under so renowned a captain as Maurice.
It might have been reasonably expected that as religious
zeal had made the recovery of the Palatinate appear a point
of such vast importance in England, the same effect must
have been produced in France by the force merely of po-
litical views and considerations. While that principality
remained in the hands of the house of Austria, the French
dominions were surrounded on all sides by the possessions
of that ambitious family, and might be invaded by superior
forces from every quarter. It concerned the King of France,
therefore, to prevent the peaceable establishment of the
emperor in his new conquests ; and both by the situation
and greater power of his state he was much better enabled
than James to give succor to the distressed Palatine." But
though these views escaped not Louis, nor Cardinal Riche-
lieu, who now began to acquire an ascendant in the French
court, that minister was determined to pave the way for his
enterprises by first subduing the Huguenots, and thence to
proceed by mature counsels to humble the house of Austria.
'^ See Collection of State Papers by the Earl of Clarendon, p, 393.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 81
The prospect, however, of a conjunction with England was .
presently embraced, and all imaginable encouragement was
given to every proposal for conciliating a marriage between
Charles and the Princess Henrietta.
Notwithstanding the sensible experience which James
might have acquired of the insurmountable antipathy enter-
tained by his subjects against an alliance with Catholics, he
still persevered in the opinion that his son would be de-
graded by receiving into his bed a princess of less than
royal extraction. After the rupture, therefore, with Spain,
nothing remained but an alliance with France ; and to that
court he immediately applied himself.''' The same allure-
ments had not here place which had so long entangled him
in the Spanish negotiation. The portion promised was much
inferior, and the peaceable restoration of the Palatine could
not thence be expected. But James was afraid lest his son
should be altogether disappointed of a bride ; and, therefore,
as soon as the French king demanded, for the honor of his
crown, the same terms which had been granted to the Span-
ish, he was prevailed with to comply. And as the prince
during his abode in Spain, had given a verbal promise to
allow the infanta the education of her children till the age
of thirteen, this article was here inserted in the treaty ; and
to that imprudence is generally imputed the present dis-
tressed condition of his posterity. The court of England,
however, it must be confessed, always pretended, even in their
memorials to the French court, that all the favorable condi-
tions granted to the Catholics were inserted in the marriage
treaty merely to please the pope, and that their strict exe-
cution was, by an agreement with France, secretly dis-
pensed with.''
As much as the conclusion of the marriage treaty was
acceptable to the king, as much were all the military enter-
prises disagreeable, both from the extreme difficulty of the
undertaking in which he was engaged and from his own
incapacity for such a scene of action.
During the Spanish negotiation, Heidelberg and Man-
heim had been taken by the imperial forces ; and Franken-
dale, though the garrison was entirely English, was closely
besieged by them. After reiterated remonstrances from
James, Spain interposed and procured a suspension of arms
during eighteen months. But as Frankendale was the only
place of Frederick's ancient dominions which was still in his
'2 Eusliworth, vol. i. p. 152. "' See note [H] at the end of the volume.
Vol. IV.— 6
82 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
hands, Ferdinand, desirous of withdrawing his forces from
the Palatinate, and of leaving that state in security, was
unwilling that so important a fortress should remain in the
possession of his enemy. To compromise all differences, it
was agreed to sequestrate it into the hands of the infanta as
a neutral person ; upon condition that, after the expiration
of the truce, it should be delivered to Frederick, though peace
should not at that time be concluded between him and Fer-
dinand.^* After the unexpected rupture with Spain, the
infanta, when James demanded the execution of the treaty,
offered him peaceable possession of Frankendale, and even
promised a safe-conduct for the garrison through the Span-
ish Netherlands. But there was some territory of the empire
interposed between her state and the Palatinate ; and for
passage over that territory no terms were stipulated.^' By
this chicane, which certainly had not been employed if amity
with Spain had been preserved, the Palatine was totally
dispossessed of his patrimonial dominions.
The English nation, however, and James's warlike coun-
cil were not discouraged. It was still determined to recon-
quer the Palatinate — a state lying in the midst of Germany,
possessed entirely by the emperor and Duke of Bavaria,
surrounded by potent enemies, and cut off from all com-
munication with England. Count Mansfeldt was taken into
pay, and an English army of twelve thousand foot and two
hundred horse was levied by a general press throughout the
kingdom. During the negotiation with France vast promises
had- been made, though in general terms, by the French
ministry, not only that a free passage should be granted to
the English troops, but that powerful succor should also
join them in their march towards the Palatinate. In Eng-
land, all these professions were hastily interpreted to be
positive engagements. The troops under Mansfeldt's com-
mand were embarked at Dover ; but, upon sailing over to
Calais, found no orders yet arrived for their admission.
After waiting in vain during some time, they were obliged
to sail towards Zealand, where it had also been neglected to
concert proper measures for their disembarkation; and
some scruples arose among the States on account of the
scarcity of provisions. Meanwhile a pestilential distemper
crept in among the English forces, so long cooped up in nar-
row vessels. Half the army died while on board ; and the
other half, weakened by sickness, appeared too small a body
" Kusliworth, vol. i. p. 74. « Eushworth, vol. I. p. 15^
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 83
to march into the Palatinate.^' And thus ended this ill-con-
certed and fruitless expedition, the only disaster which hap-
pened to England during the prosperous and pacific reign of
James.
[1625.] That reign was now drawing towards a con-
clusion. With peace, so successfully cultivated and so pas-
sionately loved by this monarch, his life also terrhinated.
This spring hje was seized with a tertian ague ; and when
encouraged by his courtiers with the common proverb that
such a distemper, during that season, was health for a king,
he replied that the proverb was meant for a young king.
After some fits he found himself extremely weakened, and
sent for the prince, whom he exhorted to bear a tender af-
fection for his wife, but to preserve a constancy in religion^
to protect the Church of England, and to extend his care
towards the unhappy family of the Palatine." With de-
cency and courage he prepared himself, for his end ; and he
expired on the 27th of March, after a reign over England of
twenty-two years and some days, and in the fifty-ninth year
of his age. His reign over Scotland was almost of equal
duration with his life. In all history it would be diflicult to
find a reign less illustrious, yet more unspotted and unblem-
ished, than that of James in both kingdoms.
No prince, so little enterprising and so inoffensive, was
ever so much exposed to the opposite extremes of calumny
and flattery, of satire and panegyric ; and the factions which
began in his time, being still continued, have made his char-
acter be as much disputed to this day as is commonly that
of princes who are our contemporaries. Many virtues, how-
ever, it must be owned, he was possessed of; but scarce any
of them pure or free from the contagion of the neighboring
vices. His generosity bordered on profusion, his learning
on pedantry, his pacific disposition on pusillanimity, his wis-
dom on cunning, his friendship on light fancy and boyish
fondness. While he imagined that he was only maintaining
his own authority, he may perhaps be suspected, in a few of
his actions, and still more of his pretensions, to have some-
what encroached on the liberties of his people; while he
endeavored, by an exact neutrality, to acquire the good-
will of all his neighbors, he was able to preserve fully the
esteem and regard of none. His capacity was considerable,
but fitter to discourse on general maxims than to conduct
B6 Franklyn, p. 104. Eushworth, Tol. i. p. 154. Dugdale, p. 24.
67 Kiisiwortii, vol. i. p. 155.
84 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
any intricate business ; his intentions were just, but more
adapted to the conduct of private life than to the govern-
ment of kingdoms. Awkward in his person and ungainly
in his manners, he was ill qualified to command respect ;
partial and undiscerning in his affections, he was little fitted
to acquire general love. Of a feeble temper more than of a
fi-ail judgment; exposed to our ridicule from his vanity,
but exempt from our hatred by his freedom from pride and
arrogance. And, upon the whole, it may be pronounced of
his character that all his qualities were sullied with weak-
ness and embellished by humanity. Of political courage he
certainly was destitute ; and thence chiefly is derived the
strong prejudice which prevails against his personal bravery
— an inference, however, which must be owned, from gen-
eral experience, to be extremely fallacious.
He was only once married, to Anne of Denmark, who
died on the 3rd of March, 1619, in the forty-fifth year of her
age : a woman eminent neither for her vices nor her virtues.
She loved shows and expensive amusements, but possessed
little taste in her pleasures. A great comet appeared about
the time of her death, and the vulgar esteemed it the prog-
nostic of that event. So considerable in their eyes are even
the most insignificant princes.
He left only one son, Charles, then in the twenty-fifth
year of his age, and one daughter, Elizabeth, married to the
Elector Palatine. She was aged twenty-nine years. Those
alone remained of six legitimate children born to him. He
never had any illegitimate ; and he never discovered any
tendency, even the smallest, towards a passion for any mis-
tress.
The archbishops of Canterbury, during this reign, were
Whitgift, who died in 1604 ; Bancroft, in 1610 ; Abbot, who
survived the king. The chancellors. Lord Ellesmore, who
resigned in 1617; Bacon was first lord keeper till 1619;
then was created chancellor, and was displaced in 1621;
Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, was created lord keeper in his
place. The high treasurers were the Earl of Dorset, who
died in 1609; the Earl of Salisbury, in 1612; the Earl of
Suffolk, fined and displaced for bribery in 1618 ; Lord Man-
deville, resigned in 1621; the Earl of Middlesex, displaced*
in 1624 ; the Earl of Marlborough succeeded. The lord
admirals were the Earl of Nottingham, who resigned in
1618; the Earl, afterwards Duke, of Buckingham. The
secretaries of state were the Earl of Salisbury, Sir Ralph
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 85
Winwood, Nanton, Calvert, Lord Conway, Sir Albertus
Moreton.
The numbers of the House of Lords in the first Parlia-
ment of this reign were seventy-eight temporal peers. The
numbers in the lirst Parliament of Charles were ninety-seven.
Consequently James, during that period, created nineteen
new peerages above those that expired.
The House of Commons, in the first' Parliament of this
reign, consisted of four hundred and sixty-seven members.
It appears that four boroughs revived their chai-ters, which
they had formerly neglected. And as the first Parliament
of Charles consisted of four hundred and ninety-four mern.
bers, we may infer that James created ten new boroughs.
86 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
APPENDIX TO THE EEIGN OP JAMES 1/
CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND DURING THIS PERIOD. EC-
CLESIASTICAL GOVERNMENT. MANNERS. FINANCES.
NAVY. COMMERCE. MANUFACTURES. COLONIES.
LEARNING AND ARTS.
It may not be improper, at this period, to make a pause,
and to take a survey of the state of the kingdom with regard
to government, manners, finances, arms, trade, learning.
Where a just notion is not formed of these particulars, his-
tory can be little instructive, and often will not be intelli-
gible.
We may safel}' pronounce that the English government,
at the accession of tlie Scottish line, was much more arbi-
trary than it is at present ; the prerogative less limited, tho
liberties of the subject less accurately defined and secured.
Without mentioning other particulars, the courts alone of
high commission and Star-chamber were sufficient to lay the
wl»le kingdom at the mercy of the prince.
The court of high commission had been erected by Eliza-
beth, in consequence of an act of Parliament passed in the
beginning of her reign. By this act it was thought proper,
during the great revolution of religion, to arm the sovereign
with full powers, in order to discourage and suppress oppo-
sition. AH appeals from the inferior ecclesiastical courts
were carried before the high commission, and, of conse-
quence, the whole life and doctrine of the clergy lay directly
under its inspection. Every breach of the act of uniformity,
every refusal of the ceremonies, was cognizable in this court,
and during the reign of Elizabeth had been punished by
deprivation, by fine, confiscation, and imprisonment. James
contented himself with the gentler penalty of deprivation ;
nor was that punishment inflicted with rigor on every
> Thi histovy of the house of Stuart was written and puhlished by the authot
before thi-. history o£ the house of Tudor. Hence it happens that some pa8sa<'es
particularly in the present Appendix, may seem to be repetitions of what was
formerly delivered in the reign of Elizabeth.' The author, in order to obviate
this obiection, has cancelled some few passages iu the foregoing chapters.
mSTOEY OF ENGLAND. 87
offender. Archbishop Spotswood tells us that he was in-
formed by Bancroft, the primate, several years after the king's
accession, that not above forty-five clergymen had then been
deprived. All the Catholics, too, were liable to be punished
by this court if they exercised any act of their religion, or
sent abroad their children or other relations to receive
that education which they could not procure them in their
own country. Popish priests were thrown into prison, and
might be delivered over to the law, which punished them
with death, though that severity had been sparingly exer-
cised by Elizabeth, and never almost by James. In a word,
that liberty of conscience which we so highly and so justly
value at present was totally suppressed ; and no exercise of
any religion but the established was permitted throughout
the kingdom. Any word of writing which tended towards
heresy or scliism was punishable by the high commissioners,
or any three of them : they alone were judges what ex-
pressions had that tendency. They proceeded not, by in-
formation, but upon rumor, suspicion, or according to their
discretion ; they administered an oath by which the party
cited before them was bound to answer any question which
should be propounded to him. Whoever refused this oath,
though he pleaded ever so justly that he might thereby be
brought to accuse himself, or his dearest friend, was pun-
ishable by imprisonment ; and, in short, an inquisitorial
tribunal, with all its terrors and iniquities, was erected in
the kingdom. Full discretionary powers were bestowed
with regard to the inquiry, trial, sentence, and penalty in-
flicted ; excepting only that corporal j)unishments were
restrained by that patent of the prince which erected the
court, not by the act of Parliament which empowered him.
By reason of the uncertain limits which separate ecclesiasti-
cal from civil causes, all accusations of adultery and incest
were tried by the court of high commission, and every com-
plaint of wives against their husbands was there examined
and discussed.'' On like pretences, every cause which re-
garded conscience — that is, every cause — could have been
brought under their jurisdiction.
But there was a sufficient reason why the king would
not be solicitous to stretch the jurisdiction of this court :
the Star-chamber possessed the same authority in civil
matters, and its methods of proceeding were equally arbi-
trary and unlimited. The origin of this court was derived
' Kyuier, vol. xvii. p. 20fl.
L
88 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
from the most remote antiquity,' though it is pretended that
its power had first been carried to the greatest height by-
Henry VII. In all times, however, it is confessed, it en-
joyed authority, and at no time was its authority circum-
scribed or method of proceeding directed by any law or
statute.
We have had already, or shall have, sufficient occasion,
during the course of this history, to mention the dispensing
power, the power of imprisonment, of exacting loans ■" and
benevolence, of pressing and quartering soldiers, of altering
the customs, of erecting monopolies. These branches of
power, if not directly opposite to the principles of all free
government, must at least be acknowledged dangerous to
freedom in a monarchical constitution, where an eternal
jealousy must be preserved against the sovereign, and no
discretionary powers must ever be intrusted to him by which
the property or personal liberty of any subject can be
affected. The Kings of England, however, had almost con-
stantly exercised these powers ; and if on any occasion the
prince had been obliged to submit to laws enacted against
them, he had ever in practice eluded these laws and returned
to the same arbitrary administration. Durmg almost three
centuries before the accession of James, the regal authority
in all these particulars had never once been called in ques-
tion.
We may also observe that the principles in general which
prevailed during that age were so favorable to monarchy
that they bestowed on it an authority almost absolute and
unlimited, sacred and indefeasible.
The meetings of Parliament were so precarious, their
sessions so short compared to the vacations, that, when
men's eyes were turned upwards in search of sovereign
power, the prince alone was apt to strike them as the only
permanent magistrate invested with the whole majesty and
authority of the state. The great complaisance, too, of par-
liaments during so long a period had extremely degraded
and obscured those assemblies ; and as all instances of oi>
position to prerogative must have been drawn from a remote
age, they were unknown to a great many, and had the less
» KuBhworth, vol. ii. p. 473. In Chambers's case, it was the unanimous opin-
ion of the court of King's Bench that the court of Star-chamber was not de-
rived from the statute of Henry VII. , but was a court many years before
and one of the mosfhigh and honorable courts of justice. See Coke's Rep term
Mich. 5 Car. I. See, further, Camden's Brit. vol. i. Introd. p. 264, edit, of Gibson
* During several centuries, no reign had passed without some forced loans
from the subject.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 89
authority even with those who were acquainted with them.
These examples, besides, of liberty had commonly, in ancient
times, been accompanied with such circumstances of vio-
lence, convulsion, civil war, and disorder that they presented
but a disagreeable idea to the inquisitive part of the people,
and afforded small inducement to renew such dismal scenes.
By a great many, therefore, monarchy, simple and unmixed,
was conceived to be the government of England; and those
popular assemblies were supposed to foi-m only the orna-
ment of the fabric, without being in any degree essential to
its being and existence.^ The prerogative of the crown was
represented by lawyers as something real and durable ; like
those eternal essences of the schools which no time or force
could alter. The sanction of religion was by divines called
in aid, and the Monarch of heaven was supposed to be inter-
ested in supporting the authority of his earthly vicegei'ent.
And though it is pretended that these doctrines were more
openly inculcated and more strenuously insisted on during
the reign of the Stuarts, they were not then invented ; and
were only found by the court to be more necessary at that
period, by reason of the opposite doctrine which began to
be promulgated by the puritanical party.*
In consequence of these exalted ideas of kingly authority,
the prerogative, besides the articles of jurisdiction founded
on pi-ecedent, was by many supposed to possess an in-
exhaustible fund of latent powers which might be exerted
on any emergency. In every government, necessity, when
real, supersedes all laws and levels all limitations ; but in
the English government, convenience alone was conceived
to authorize any extraordinary act of regal power, and to
render it obligatory on the people. Hence the strict
obedience required to proclamations during all periods of
the English history ; and if James has incurred blame on
account of his edicts, it is only because he too frequently is-
sued them at a time when they began to be less regarded,
not because he fii'st assumed or extended to an unusual de-
gree that exercise of authority. Of his maxims in a parallel
case, the following is a pretty remarkable instance :
Queen Elizabeth had appointed commissioners for the
inspection of prisons, and had bestowed on them full dis-
cretionary powers to adjust all differences between prisoners
and their creditors, to compound debts, and to give liberty
6 See note [I] at the end of the volume.
» See note [K] at the end of the volume.
90 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
to such debtors as they found honest and insolvent. From
the uncertain and undefined nature of the English constitu-
tion, doubts sprang up in many that this commission was
contrary to law, and it was represented in that light to
James. He forebore, therefore, renewing the commission
till the fifteenth of his reign, when complaints rose so high
with regard to the abuses practised in prisons that he
thought himself obliged to overcome his scruples, and
to appoint new commissioners invested with the same dis-
cretionary powers which Elizabeth had formerly conferred.'
Upon the whole we must conceive that monarchy, on the
accession of the house of Stuart, was possessed of a very
extensive authority — an authority, in the judgment of all,
not exactly limited ; in the judgment of some, not limitable.
But at the same time, this authority was founded merelj^ on
the opinion of the people, influenced by ancient precedent
and example. It was not supported either by money or by
force of arms. And, for this reason, we need not wonder
that the princes of that line were so extremely jealous of
their prerogative, being sensible that when those claims were
ravished from them they possessed no influence by which
they could maintain their dignity or support the laws. By
the changes which have since been introduced, the liberty
and independence of individuals have been rendered much
more full, entire and secure ; those of the public more un-
certain and precarious. And it seems a necessary though
perhaps a melancholy truth, that in every government the
magistrate must either possess a large revenue and a mili-
tary force, or enjoy some discretionary powers in order to
execute the laws and support his own authority.
We have had occasion to remark, in so many instances,
the bigotry which prevailed in that age that we can look for
no toleration among the different sects. Two Arians, under
the title of heretics, were punished by fire during this
period, and no one reign since the Reformation had been
free from like barbarities. Stowe says that these Arians
were offered their pardon at the stake if they would merit
it by a recantation. A madman who called himself the
Holy Ghost was, without any indulgence for his frenzy, con-
demned to the same punishment. Twenty pounds a month
could by law be levied on every one who frequented not the
established worship. This rigorous law, however, had one
indulgent clause, that the fines exacted should not exceed
' Kymer, vol. xviii. pp. 117, 591.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 91
two thirds of the yearly income of the person. It had heen
usual for Elizabeth to allow those penalties to run on for
several years, and to levy them all at once, to the utter ruin
of such Catholics as had incurred her displeasure. James
was more humane in this, as in every other respect. The
Puritans formed a sect which secretly lurked in the Church,
but pretended not to any separate worship or discipline.
An attempt of that kind would have been universally re-
garded as the most unpardonable enormity. And had the
king been disposed to grant the Puritans a full toleration
for a separate exercise of their religion, it is certain, from
the spirit of the times, that this sect itself would have de-
spised and hated him for it, and would have reproached him
with lukewarnmess and indifference in the cause of religion.
They maintained that they themselves were the only pure
Church, that their principles and practices ought to be estab-
lished by law, and that no others ought to be tolerated. It
may be questioned, therefore, whether the administration at
this time could with propi'iety deserve the appellation of
persecutors with regard to the Puritans. Such of the clergy,
indeed, as refused to comply with the legal ceremonies were
deprived of their livings, and sometimes, in Elizabeth's reign,
were otherwise punished ; and ought any man to accept of
an office or benefice in an establishment while he declines
compliance with the fixed and known rules of that establish-
ment ? But Puritans were never punished for frequenting
separate congregations, because there were none such in the
kingdom, and no Protestant ever assumed or pretended to
the right of erecting them. The greatest well-wishers of the
puritanical sect would have condemned a practice which in
that age was universally, by statesmen and ecclesiastics,
philosophers and zealots, regarded as subversive of civil
society. Even so great a reasoner as Lord Bacon thought
that uniformity in religion was absolutely necessary to the
support of government, and that no toleration could with
safety be given to sectaries.* Nothing but the imputation
of idolatry which was thrown on the Catholic religion could
justify, in the eyes of the Puritans themselves, the schism
made by the Huguenots and other Protestants who lived in
popish countries.
In all former ages, not wholly excepting even those of
Greece and Rome, religious sects and heresies and schisms
had been esteemed dangerous, if not pernicious, to civil gov-
8 See his essay De Unitate EcclesisB.
92 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
ernraent, and were regarded as the source of faction and
private combination and opposition to the laws.' The
magistrate, therefore, applied himself directly to the cure of
this evil as of every other, and very naturally attempted by
penal statutes to suppress those separate communities and
punish the obstinate innovators. But it was found by fatal
experience, and after spilling an ocean of blood in those
theological quarrels, that the evil was of a peculiar nature,
and was both inflamed by violent remedies and diffused
itself more rapidly throughout the whole society. Hence,
though late, arose the paradoxical principle and salutary
practice of toleration.
The liberty of the press was incompatible with such
maxims and such principles of government as then prevailed,
and was therefore quite unknown in that age. Besides
employing the two terrible courts of Star-chamber and high
commission, whose powers were unlimited. Queen Elizabeth
exerted her authority by restraints upon the press. She
passed a decree in her court of Star-chamber — that is, by
her own will and pleasure — forbidding any book to be
printed in any place but in London, Oxford, and Cambridge ;'"
and another, in which she prohibited, under severe penalties,
the publishing of any book or pamphlet " against the form
or meaning of any restraints or ordinance, contained, or to
be contained, in any statute or laws of this realm, or in any
injunction made or set forth by her majesty or her privy
council, or against the true sense or meaning of any letters
patent, commissions, or prohibitions under the great seal of
England." " James extended the same penalties to the
importing of such books from abroad.^^ And to render
these edicts more effectual, he afterwards inhibited the
printing of any book without a license from the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of
London, or the vice-chancellor of one of the universities, or
of some person appointed by them.^°
In tracing the coherence among the systems of modern
theology, we may observe that the doctrine of absolute de-
crees has ever been intimately connected with the enthusiastic
spirit, as that doctrine affords the highest subject of joy, tri-
umph, and security to the supposed elect, and exalts- them
by infinite degrees above the rest of mankind. All the first
"* See Cicero de Legibns.
10 28th ot EUzabetfi. See State Trials. Sir Eobert Knightly, vol. yii. first ed
" Eymer, vol. xvii. p. 522. « Ibid. i3 Eymer, vol. xvii. p. 616
HISTOET OB" ENGLAND. 93
reformers adopted these principles ; and the Jansenists, too,
a fanatical sect in France, not to mention the Mahometans
in Asia, have ever embraced them. As the Lutheran estab-
lishments were subjected to episcopal jurisdiction, their en-
thusiastic genius gradually decayed, and men had leisure to
perceive the absurdity of supposing God to punish by in-
finite torments what he himself from all eternity had un-
changeably decreed. The king, though at this time his
Calvinistic education had riveted him in the doctrine of
absolute decrees, yet, being a zealous partisan of episcopacy,
was insensibly engaged, towards the end of his reign, to
favor the milder theology of Arminius. Even in so great a
doctor, the genius of the religion prevailed over its specula^
tive tenets, and with him the whole clergy gradually dropped
the more rigid principles of absolute reprobation and uncon-
ditional decrees. Some noise was at first made about these
innovations, but being drowned in the fury of factions and
civil wars which ensued, the scholastic arguments made an
insignificant figure amid those violent disputes about civil
and ecclesiastical power with which the nation was agitated.
And at the Restoration, the Church, though she still retained
her old subscriptions and articles of faith, was found to have
totally changed her speculative doctrines, and to have em-
braced tenets more suitable to the genius of her discipline
and worship, without it being possible to assign the precise
period in which the alteration was produced.
It may be worth observing that James, from his great
desire to promote controversial divinity, erected a college at
Chelsea for the entertainment of twenty persons, who should
be entirely employed in refuting the Papists and Puritans."
All the efforts of the great Bacon could not procure an es-
tablishment for the cultivation of natural philosophy : even
to this day no society has been instituted for the polishing
and fixing of our language. The only encouragement which
the sovereign in England has ever given to anything that
has the appearance of science was this short-lived establish-
ment of James — an institution quite superfluous, considering
the unhappy propension which at that time so universally
possessed the nation for polemical theology.
The manners of the nation were agreeable to the mon-
archical government which prevailed, and contained not
that strange mixture which at present distinguishes England
from all other countries. Such violent extremes were then
" Kennet, p. 665, Camden's Brit. vol. i. p. 3T0, Gibson's edit.
94 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
unknown of industry and debauchery, frugality and pro-
fusion, civility and rusticity, fanatacistn and scepticism.
Candor, sincerity, modesty, are the only qualities which
the English of that age possessed in common with the
present.
High pride of family then prevailed ; and it was hy a
dignity and stateliness of behavior that the gentry and
nobility distinguished themselves from the common people.
(I Great riches acquired by commerce were more rare, and had
not as yet been able to confound all ranks of men, and ren-
,_ der money the chief foundation of distinction. Much cere-
mony took place in the common intercourse of life, and
little familiarity was indulged by the great. The advan-
tages which result from opulence are so solid and real that
those who are possessed of them need not dread the near
approaches of their inferiors. The distinctions of birth and
title being more empty and imaginary, soon vanish upon
familiar access and acquaintance.
The expenses of the great consisted in pomp and show
and a numerous retinue rather than in convenience and true
pleasure. The Earl of Nottingham, in his embassy to Spain,
was attended by five hundred persons. The Earl of Hert-
ford, in that to Brussels, carried three hundred gentlemen
along with him. Lord Bacon has remarked that the English
nobility in his time maintained a lai'ger retinue of servants
than the nobility of any other nation, except, perhaps, the
Polanders.^''
Civil honors, which now hold the first place, wei-e at that
time subordinate to the military. The young gentry and
nobility were fond of distinguishing themselves by arms.
The fury of duels, too, prev.ailed more than at any time be-
fore or since.i^ This was the turn that the romantic chiv-
alry for which the nation was formerly so renowned liad
lately taken.
Liberty of commerce between the sexes was indulged,
but without any licentiousness of manners. The court was
very little an exception to this observation. James had
rather entertained an aversion and contempt for tlie fe-
males, nor were those young courtiers of whom he was so
fond able to break through the established manners of the
nation.
The first sedan-chair seen in England was in this rei"-n,
'" Essays, De Profer. Fin. Imp.
19 Franklyn, p. 6. See also Lord Herbert's Memoirs.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 95
and was used by the Duke of Buckingham, to the great in-
dignation of the people, who exclaimed that he was employ-
ing his fellow-creatures to do the service of beasts.
The country life prevails at present in England beyond
any cultivated nation of Europe ; but it was then much more
generally embraced by all the gentry. The increase of arts,
pleasures, and social commerce was just beginning to pro-
duce an inclination for the softer and more civilized life of
the city. James discouraged, as much as possible, this al-
teration of manners. " He was wont to be very earnest,"
as Lord Bacon tells us, " with the country gentlemen to go
from London to their country-seats. And sometimes he
would say thus to them, ' Gentlemen, at London you are
like ships in a sea, which show like nothing ; but in your
country villages you are like ships in_a river, which look like
great tilings.' " "
He was not content with reproof and exhortation. As
Queen Elizabeth had perceived with regret the increase of
London, and had restrained all new buildings by proclama-
tion, James, who found that these edicts were not exactly
obeyed, frequently renewed them, though a strict execution
seems still to have been wanting. He also issued reiterated
proclamations, in imitation of his jDredecessor, containing
severe menaces against the gentry who lived in town.^*
This policy is contrary to that which lias evo.r been prac-
tised by all princes who studied the increase of theii- author-
ity. To allure the nobility to court ; to engage them in ex-
pensive pleasures or employments which dissipate their
fortune; to increase their subjection to ministers by attend-
ance ; to weaken their authority in the provinces by absence
— these have been the common arts of arbitrary govern-
ment. But James, besides that he had certainly laid no
plan for extending his jjower, had no money to support a
splendid court or bestow on a numerous retinue of gentry
and nobility. He thought, too, that by their living together
they became more sensible of their own strength, and were
apt to indulge too curious researches into matters of govern-
ment. To remedy the present evil, he was desircrus of dis-
25ersing them into their country-seats, where he hoped they
would bear a more submissive reverence to his authority,
and receive less support from each other. But the contrary
effect soon followed. The riches amassed during their
residence at home rendered them independent. The iu-
>' Apophthegms, 18 Bj'iner, vol. xvii. p. 632.
96 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
fluence acquired by hospitality made them formidable.
They would not be led by the court ; they could not be
driven ; and thus the system of the English government re-
ceived a total and sudden alteration in the course of less
than forty years.
The first rise of commerce and the arts had contributed,
in preceding reigns, to scatter those immense fortunes of
the barons which rendered them so formidable both to king
and people. The further progress of these advantages began
during this reign to ruin the small proprietors of land ; ^'
and, by both events, the gentry, or that rank which com-
posed the House of Commons, enlarged their power and
authority. The early improvements in luxury were seized
by the greater nobles, whose fortunes, placing them above
frugality or even calculation, were soon dissipated in expen-
sive pleasures. These improvements reached, at last, all
men of property ; and those of slender fortunes, who at that
time were often men of family, imitating those of a rank
immediately above them, reduced themselves to poverty.
Their lands, coming to sale, swelled the estates of those who
possessed riches sufficient for the fashionable expenses, but
who were not exempted from some care and attention to
their domestic economy.
The gentry, also, of that age were engaged in no expense,
except that of country hospitality. No taxes were levied,
no wars waged, no attendance at court expected, no bribery
or profusion required at elections.^ Could human nature
ever reach happiness, the condition of the English gentry,
under so mild and benign a prince, might merit that appel-
lation.
The amount of the king's revenue, as it stood in 1617, is
thus stated : ^^ of crown lands, eighty thousand pounds a
year ; by customs and new impositions, near one hundred
and ninety thousand ; by wards and other various branches
of revenue, besides purveyance, one hundred and eighty
thousand— the whole amounting to four hundred and fifty
thousand. The king's ordinary disbursements, by the same
account, are said to exceed this sum thirty-six thousand
» Cabala, p. 224, first edit.
20 Men seem then to have been ambitious of representing the counties but care-
less of the boroughs. A seat in the House was, in itself, of small importance
But the torniev became a point of honor among the gentlemen.— Journal Feb'
ruary 10, 1620. Towns which had formerly neglected their right of sendins mem-
bers now began to claim it. — Journal, February 2G, 1623.
21 An Abstract or Brief Declaration of his Majesty's Revenue, with the As
gignations and Defalcations upon the same.
IIISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 97
poiitids."' All the. extraordinary sums which James had
raised by subsidies, loang, sale of lands, sale of the title of
baronet, money paid by the states and by the King of
France, benevolences, etc., were, in the whole, about two
millions two hundred thousand pounds, of which the sale of
lands afforded seven hundred and seventy-five thousand
pounds. The extraordinary disbursements of the king
amounted to two millions, besides above four hundred
thousand pounds given in presents. Upon the whole, a
sufficient reason appears, partly from necessary expenses,
partly from want of a rigid economy, why the king, even eai'ly
in his reign, was deeply involved in debt, and found great
difiiculty to support the government.
Farmers, not commissioners, levied the customs. It
seems, indeed, requisite, that the former method should
always be tried before the latter, though a preferable one.
When men's own interest is concerned, they fall upon a
hundred expedients to prevent frauds in the merchants ; and
these the public may afterwards imitate in establishing
proper rules for its officers.
The customs were supposed to amount to five per cent,
of the value, and were levied upon exports as well as im-
j)orts. Nay, the imposition upon exports by James's addi-
tions is said to amount, in some few instances, to twenty-five
per cent. This practice, so hurtful to industry, prevails still
in France, Spain, and most countries of Europe. The cus-
toms, in 1604, yielded one hundred and twenty-seven thou-
sand pounds a year.^ They rose to one hundred and ninety
tliousand towards the end of the reign.
Interest during this reign was at ten per cent, till 1624,
when it was reduced to eight. This high interest is an in-
dication of the great profits and small progress of commei-ce.
The extraordinary supplies granted by Parliament during
this whole reign amounted not to more than six hundred
and thirty thousand pounds, which, divided among twenty-
one years, makes thirty thousand pounds a year. I do not
include those supplies, amounting to three hundred thousand
pounds, which were given to the king by his last Parlia-
ment. These were paid in to their own commissioners, and
the expenses of the Spanish war were much more ilian
suflScient to exhaust them. The distressed family ot Uie
Palatine was a great burden on James duriiig ])art of his
M The excess was formerly greater, as appears by Salisbury's account. See
cb. ii. ^ Journal, May 21, 1604.
Vol. IV.— 7
98 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
reign. The king, it is pretended, possessed not frugality-
proportioned to the extreme narrowness of his revenue.
Splendid equipages, however, he did not affect, nor costly
furniture, nor a luxurious table, nor prodigal mistresses.
His buildings, too, were not sumptuous ; though the Ban-
queting-house must not be forgotten, as a monument which
does honor to his reign. Hunting was his chief amusement,
the cheapest pleasure in which a king can indulge himself.
His expenses were the effects of liberality rather than of
luxury.
One day, it is said, while he was standing amid some of
his courtiers, a porter passed by, loaded with money, which
he was carrying to the treasury. The king observed that
Rich, afterwards Earl of Holland, one of his handsome,
agreeable favorites, whispered something to one standing
near him. Upon enquiry, he found that Rich had said,
" How happy would that money make me ! " Without hesi-
tation James bestowed it all uj)on him, though it amounted
to three thousand pounds. He added, " You think yourself
very happy in obtaining so large a sum, but I am more
happy in having an opportunity of obliging a worthy man,
whom I love." The generosity of James was more the
result of a benign humor of light fancy than of reason or
judgment. The objects of it were such as could render
themselves agreeable to him in his loose hours, not such as
were endowed with great merit, or who possessed talents or
popularity which could strengthen his interest with the
public.
The same advantage, we may remark, over the people
which the crown formerly reaped from that interval between
the fall of the Peers and the rise of the Commons was now
possessed by the people against the crown during the con-
tinuance of a like interval. The sovereign had already lost
that independent revenue by which he could subsist without
regular supplies from Parliament, and he had not yet ac-
quired the means of influencing those assemblies. The
effects of this situation, which commenced with the acces-
sion of the house of Stuart, soon rose to a great heisrht, and
were more or less propagated thoughout all the reio-ns of
that unhappy family. '^
Subsidies and fifteenths are frequently mentioned by his-
torians, but neither the amount of these taxes nor the
method of levying them has been well explained. It appears
, that the fifteenths formerly corresponded to the name and
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 99
■were that proportionable part of the movables.^* But a
valuation having been made in the reign of Edward III.,
that valuation was always adhered to, and each town paid
unalterably a particular sum, which the inhabitants them-
selves assessed upon their fellow-citizens. The same tax in
corporate towns was called a tenth, because there it was at
first a tenth of the movables. The whole amount of a tenth
and a fifteenth throughout the kingdom, or a fifteenth, as it is
often more concisely called, was about twenty-nine thousand,
pounds.^ The amount of a subsidy was not invariable, like
that of a fifteenth. In the eighth of Elizabeth a subsidy
amounted to one hundred and twenty thousand pounds ; in
the fortieth it was not above sevent5'-eight thousand.^* It
afterwards fell to seventy thousand, and was continually de-
creasing." The reason is easily collected from the method
of levying it. We may learn from the subsidy bills ^ that
one subsidy was given for four shillings in the pound on land,
and two shillings and eightpence on movables throughout
the counties — a considerable tax had it been strictly levied.
But this was only the ancient state of a subsidy. During
the reign of James there was not paid the twentieth
part of that sura. The tax was so far personal that a man
paid only in the county where he lived, though he should
possess estates in other counties ; and the assessors formed
a loose estimation of his property and rated him according-
ly. To preserve, however, some rule in the estimation,
it- seems to have been the practice to keep an eye to
former assessments, and to rate every man according as
his ancestors, or men of such an estimated property were
accustomed to pay. This was a sufficient reason why subsi-
dies could not increase, notwithstanding the great increase
of money and rise of rents. But there was an evident reason
why they continually decreased. The favor, as is natural
to suppose, ran always against the crown ; especially during
the latter end of Elizabeth, when subsidies became numerous
and frequent, and the sums levied were considerable com-
pared to former supplies. The assessors, though accus-
tomed to have an eye to ancient estimations, were not
bound to observe any such rule, but might rate anew any
person according to his present income. When rents fell
M Coke's Inst. bk. iy. ch. 1, of fifteenths, quinzins.
!s Coke's Inst. bk. iv. oh. 1, subsidies temporai-y.
21! Journal, July 11, 1610.
S' Coke's Inst. bk. iv. eh. 1, subsidies temporary.
2* See Statutes at Large,
100 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND,
or part of an estate was sold off, the proprietor was sure to
represent these losses and obtain a diminution of his sub-
sidy ; but where rents rose or new lands were purchased, he
kept his own secret, and paid no more than formerly. The
advantage, therefore, of every change was taken against the
crown, and the crown could obtain the advantage of none.
And, to make the matter worse, the alterations which hap-
pened in property during this age were generally unfavor-
• able to the crown. The small proprietors, or twenty-pound
men, went continually to decay ; and when their estates
were swallowed up by greater, the new purchaser increased
not his subsidy. So loose, indeed, is the whole method of
rating subsidies that the wonder was, not how the tax
should continually diminish, but how it yielded any revenue
at all. It became at last so unequal and uncertain that the
Parliament was obliged to change it into a land tax.
The price of corn during this reign, and that of the other
necessaries of life, was no lower, or was rather higher, than at
l>resent. By a proclamation of James establishing public
magazines, whenever wheat fell below thirty-two shillings a
quarter, rye below eighteen, barley below sixteen, the com-
missioners were empowered to purchase corn for the mag-
azines.'^ These prices, then, are to be regarded as low, though
they would rather pass for high by our present estimation.
The usual bread of the poor was at this time made of barley.®"
The best wool, during the greater part of James's reign, was
at thirty-three shillings a tod.^^ At present it is not above
two thirds of that value, though it is to be presumed that
our exports in woollen goods are somewhat increased. The
finer manufactures, too, by the progress of arts and industry,
have rather diminished in price, notwithstanding the great
increase of money. In Shakspeare the hostess tells Falstaff
that the shirts she bought him were holland, at eight shil-
lings a yard— a high price at this day, even supposing, what
is not probable, that the best holland at that time was equal
in goodness to the best that can now be purchased. In like
manner, a yard of velvet about the middle of Elizabeth's
reign was valued at two-and-twenty shillings. It appears
from Dr. Birch's Life of Prince Henry ^^ that that prince, by
contract with his butcher, paid near a groat a pound
» Eymer, vol. xvii. p. 526. To tUe same purpose, see also 21 Jao. I cao. IS
^ Rymer, vol. xx. p. 15.
SI See a compejidium or dialogue inserted in the Memoirs o£ Wool cli 23
HISTORY 0¥ ENGLAND. 101
throughout the year for all the beef and mutton used in his
family. Besides, we must consider that the general turn of
that age, which no laws could prevent, was the converting
of arable land into pasture — a certain proof that the latter
was found more profitable, and, consequently, that all butch-
er's meat, as well as bread, M'as rather higher than at
present. We have a regulation of the market, with regard
to poultry and some other articles, very early in Charles
I.'s reign,^^ and the prices are high. A turkey-cock four
shillings and sixpence, a turkey-hen three shillings, a pheas-
ant-cock six, a jjheasant-hen five, a partridge one shilling, a
goose two, a capon two and sixpence, a pullet one and six-
pence, a rabbit eightpence, a dozen of pigeons six shillings.^*
We must consider that London' at present is more than
three times more populous than it was at that time — a cir-
cumstance which much increases the price of poultry, and
of everything that cannot conveniently be brought from a
distance ; not to mention that these regulations by authority
are always calculated to diminish, never to increase, the
market prices. The contractors for victualling the navy
were allowed by government eightpence a day for the diet
of each man when in harbor, sevenpence half-penny when
at sea,^^ which would sufiice at present. The chief differ-
ence in expense between that age and the present consists
in the imaginary wants of men, which have since extremely
multiplied. These ^ are the principal reasons why James's
revenue would go further than the same money in our time,
though the difference is not near so great as is usually im-
agined.
The public was entirely free from the danger and ex-
pense of a standing army. While James was vaunting his
divine vicegerency, and boasting of his high prerogative, he
possessed not so much as a single regiment of guards to
maintain his extensive claims — a suiEcient proof that he
sincerely believed his pretensions to be well grounded, and
a strong presumption that they were at least built on what
were then deemed plausible arguments. The militia of
England, amounting to one hundred and sixty thousand
men,^' was the sole defence of the kingdom. It is pretended
'3 Bymer, vol- xix. p. 511.
^ We may judge of the great grievance of purveyance by this circumstance,
that tlie purveyors often gave but sixpence for a dozen pigeons and twopence
for a fowl. Journal, May 25, 1626. ss Eymer, vol. xvii. p. 441, et seq.
35 This volume was written above twenty-eight years before the edition of
1756, In that short period prices have, perhaps, risen more than during the pre-
cedmg hundred and fifty. 37 journal, March 1, 1623.
102 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
that they were kept in good order during this reign.'^ The
city of London procured officers who had served abroad,
and who taught the trained bands their exercises in Artillery-
garden — a practice which had been discontinued since 1588.
All the counties of England, in emulation of the capital,
were fond of showing a well-ordered and well-appointed
militia. It appears that the natural propensity of men
towards military shows and exercises will go far, with a
little attention in the sovereign, towards exciting and sup-
porting this spirit in any nation. The very boys, at that
time, in mimicry of their elders, enlisted themselves vol-
untarily into companies, elected officers, and practised the
discipline, of which the models were every day exposed to
their view.''' Sir Edward Harwood, in a memorial com-
posed at the beginning of the subsequent reign, says that
England was so unprovided with horses fit for war that two
thousand men could not possibly be mounted throughout
the whole kingdom.*" At present the breed of horses is so
much improved that almost all those which are employed
either in the plough, wagon, or coach would be fit for that
purpose.
The disorders of Ireland obliged James to keep up some
forces there, and put him to great expense. The common
pay of a private man in the infantry was eightpence a day,
a lieutenant two shillings, an ensign eighteenpence." The
armies in Europe were not near so numerous during that
age ; and the private men, we may observe, were drawn
from a better rank than at present, and approaching nearer
to that of the officers.
In the year 1583 there was a general review made of all
the men in England capable of bearing arms; and these
were found to amount to one million one hundred and sev-
enty-two thousand men, according to Raleigh." It is iift-
possible to warrant the exactness of this computation, or,
rather, we may fairly presume it to be somewhat inaccurate'.
But if it approached near the truth, England has probably
since that time increased in populousness. The growth of
London, in riches and beauty as well as in numbers of in-
habitants, has been prodigious. From 1600 it doubled
M Stowe. See also Sir Walter Kaleigh of the Prerogatives of Parliament, and
Johnston, Hist. lib. 18. 30 Stowe
" In the Harleian Miscellany, vol. iv. p. 255. «i liymer, vol xvi d 717
«2 Of the Invention of Shipping. This number ia much superior to that 'con-
tained in Murden, and that delivered by Sir Edward Coke 10 the House of Com-
mons, and is more likely.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 108
every forty years ; ^^ and, consequently, in 1680 it contained
four times as many inhabitants as at the beginning of the
century. It has ever been the centre of all the trade in the
kingdom, and almost the only town that affords society and
amusement. The affection which "-the English bear to a
country life makes the provincial towns be little frequented
by the gentry. Nothing but the allurements of the capital,
which is favored by the residence of the king, and by being
the seat of government and of all the courts of justice, can
prevail over their passion for their rural villas.
London at this time was almost entirely built of wood,
and in every respect was certainly a very ugly city. The
Earl of Arundel first introduced the general practice of
brick buildings."
The navy of England was esteemed formidable in Eliza-
beth's time, yet it consisted only of thirty-three ships, be-
sides pinnaces ;*^ and the largest of these would not equal
our fourth-rates at present. Raleigh advises never to build
a shijD-of-war above six hundred tons.*^ James was not neg-
ligent of the navy. In five years preceeding 1623, he built
ten new ships, and expended fifty thousand pounds a year
on the fleet, besides the value of thirty-six thousand pounds
in timber which he annually gave from the royal forests."
The largest ship that had ever come from the English docks
was built during this reign. She was only fourteen hundred
tons, and carried sixty-four guns.^' The merchant-ships, in
cases of necessity, were instantly converted into ships-of-war.
The king affirmed to the Parliament that the navy had never
before been in so good a condition.^'
Every session of Parliament during this reign we meet
with grievous lamentations concerning the decay of trade
and the growth of popery. Such violent propensity have
men to complain of the present times, and to entertain dis-
content against their fortune and condition. The king him-
self was deceived by these popular complaints, and was at a
loss to account for the total want of money which he heard
so much exaggerated.^ It may, however, be affirmed that
« Sir William Petty.
" Sir Edward Walker's PoUtical Discourses, p. 270.
*5 Coke's Inst. bk. iv. ch. i. Consultation in Parliament for tlie Navy.
*" By Raleigh's account, in his Discourse on the First Invention of Shipping,
the fleet, in the twenty-fourth of the queen, consisted only of thirteen ships, and
was augmented afterwards eleven. He probably reckoned some to be pinnaces
which Coke called ships.
" Journal, 11th March, 1623. Sir William Monson makes the number amount
only to nine new ships, p. 253.
" Stowe. •' Parliamentary History, vol. yi. p. 94.
I «> Kymer, vol. xvii. p. 413.
104 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND.
during no preceding period of English history was there a
more sensible increase than during the reign of this monarch
of all the advantages which distinguish a flourishing peoj)le.
Not only the peace which he maintained was favorable to
industry and commerce; his turn of mind inclined him to
promote the peaceful arts; and trade being yet in its in-
fancy, all additions to it must have been the more evident
to every eye which was not blinded by melancholy preju-
dices.^-
By an account,^^ which seems judicious and accurate, it
appears that all the seamen employed in the merchant ser-
vice amounted to ten thousand men, which probably exceeds
not the fifth part of their present number. Sir Thomas
Overbury says that the Dutch possessed three times more
shipping than the English, but that their ships were of in-
ferior burden to those of the latter.^^ Sir William Monson
computed the English naval power to be little or nothing
inferior to the Dutch,^^ which is surely an exaggeration.
The Dutch at this time traded to England with six hundred
ships ; England to Holland with sixty only.^^
A catalogue of the manufactures for which the English
were then eminent would appear very contemptible in com-
parison of those which flourish among them at present. Al-
most all the more elaborate and curious arts were only cul-
tivated abroad, particularly in Italy, Plolland, and the
Netherlands. Ship-building and the founding of iron can-
non were the sole in which the English excelled. They
seem indeed to have possessed alone the secret of the latter,
and great complaints were made every Parliament against
the exportation of English ordnance.
Nine tenths of the commerce of the kingdom consisted
in woollen goods.*^ "Wool, however, was allowed to be ex-
ported till the nineteenth of the king. Its exportation was
then forbidden by proclamation, though that edict was never
strictly executed. Most of the cloth was exported raw, and
was dyed and dressed by the Dutch, who gained, it is pre-
tended, seven hundred thousand pounds a year by this manu-
facture." A proclamation issued by the king ao-ainst ex-
6* See note [L] at tlie end of the volume.
»= The Trade's Increase, in the Haileian Miscellany, vol iii.
"' Eemarks on his Travels, Harleian Miscellany, vol. ii p 349
" Naval Tracts, pp. 329, 3i)0. st Raleigh's Observations
™ Journal, 26th May, 1621. " "vauons.
" Journal, 20th May", 1614. Raleigh, in his Observations, computes the loss at
four hundred thousand pounds to the nation. There are about eiehty thousand
undressed cloths, says he, exported yearly. He computes, besides, that about
BISTOET OP ENGLAND. 105
porting cloth in that condition had succeeded so ill during
one year by the refusal of the Dutch to buy the dressed
cloth that great murmurs arose against it ; and this measure
was retracted by the king and complained of by the nation
as if it had been the most impolitic in the world. It seems,
indeed, to have been premature.
In so little credit was the fine English cloth, even at
home, that the king was obliged to seek expedients by which
he might engage the people of fashion to wear it.^* The
manufacture of fine linen was totally unknown in the king-
dom.^'
The company of merchant adventurers by their patent
possessed the sole commerce of woollen goods, though the
staple commodity of the kingdom. An attempt made dur-
ing the reign of Elizabeth to lay open this important trade
had been attended with bad consequences for a time by a
conspiracy of the merchant adventurers not to make any
purchases of cloth, and the queen immediately restored them
their patent.
It was the groundless fear of a like accident that en-
slaved the nation to those exclusive companies which con-
fined so much every branch of commerce and industry. The
Parliament, however, annulled, in the third of the king, the
patent of the Spanish Company; and the trade to Spain,
which was at first very insignificant, soon became the most
considerable in the kingdom. It is strange that they were
not thence encouraged to abolish all the other companies,
and that they went no further than obliging them to enlarge
their bottom and. to facilitate the admission of new adven-
turers.
A board of trade was erected by the king in 1622.*
One of the reasons assigned in the commission is to remedy
the low price of wool, which begat complaints of the decay
of the woollen manufacture. It is more probable, however,
that this fall of prices proceeded from the increase of wool.
The king likewise recommends it to the commissioners to
inquire and examine whether a greater freedom of trade
and an exemption from the restraint of exclusive companies
would not be beneficial. Men were then fettered by their
own prejudices ; and the king was justly afraid of embrac-
ing a bold measure whose consequences might be uncertain.
one hundred thousand pounds a year had been lost by Icerseys. not to mention
other articles. The account of two hundred thousand cloths a year exported lu
EhzabethB reign seems to be exaggerated.
"» Ki-mer, vol. xvii. p. 415i '» Ibid. «» Eymer, vol. xvii. p. 410.
106 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
The digesting of a navigation act, of a like nature with the
famous one executed afterwards by the republican Parlia-
ment, is likewise recommended to the commissioners. The
arbitrary powers then commonly assumed by the privy
council appear evidently through the whole tenor of the
commission.
The silk manufacture had no footing in England ; but
by James's direction mulberry-trees were planted, and silk-
worms introduced.''^ The climate seems unfavorable to the
success of this project. The planting of hops increased
much in England during this reign.
Greenland is thought to have been discovered about this
period, and the whale-fishery was carried on with success ;
but the industry of the Dutch, in spite of all opposition,
soon deprived the English of this source of riches. A com-
pany was erected for the discovery of the northwest passage,
and many fruitless attempts were made for that purpose.
In such noble projects despair ought never to be admitted
till the absolute impossibility of success be fully ascertained.
The passage to the East Indies had been opened to the
English during the reign of Elizabeth ; but the trade to
those parts was not entirely established till this reign, when
the East India Company received a new patent, enlarged
their stock to one million five hundred thousand pounds,*^
and fitted out several ships on these adventures. In 16S9,
they built a vessel of twelve hundred tons, the largest mer-
chant-ship that England had ever known. She was unfor-
tunate, and perished by shipwreck. In 1611, a large ship of
the company, assisted by a pinnace, maintained five several
engagements with a squadron of Portuguese, and gained a
complete victory over forces much superior. During the
following years the Dutch company was guilty of great in-
juries towards the English in expelling many of their fac-
tors and destroying their settlements ; but these violences
were resented with a proper spirit by the court of England.
A naval force was equipped under the Earl of Oxford,''^ and
lay in wait for the return of the Dutch East Indian fleet. By-
reason of cross winds Oxford failed of his purpose, and the
Dutch escaped. Some time after, one rich ship was taken by
Vice-Admiral Merwin ; and it was stipulated by the Dutch to
pay seventy thousand pounds to the English company, in con-
sideration of the losses which that company had sustained."
»i Stowe. M Journal, 26tli Nov. 1621. «3 in ifiw
« Johnston, Hist. Ub. 19. "•'•
HISTORY, OF ENGLAND. 107
But neither this stipulation, nor the fear of reprisals, nor the
sense of that friendship which subsisted between England
and the States, could restrain the avidity of the Dutch com-
pany, or render them equitable in their proceedings towards
their allies. Impatient to have the sole possession of the
spice trade, which the English then shared with them, they
assumed a jurisdiction over a factory of the latter in the
island of Amboyna ; and, on very improbable and even
absurd pretences, seized all their factors with their families
and put them to death with the most inhuman tortures.
This dismal news arrived in England at the time when
James, by the prejudices of his subjects and the intrigues
of his favorite, was constrained to make a breach with
Spain ; and he was obliged, after some remonstrances, to
acquiesce in this indignity from a state whose alliance was
now become necessary to him. It is remarkable that the
nation, almost without a murmur, submitted to this injury
from their Protestant confederates — an injury which, besides
the horrid enormity of the action, was of much deeper im-
portance to national interest than all those which they were
so impatient to resent from the house of Austria.
The exports of England from Christmas, 161:2, to Christ-
mas, 1613, are computed at two million four hundred and
eighty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-five pounds;
the imports, at two million one hundred and, forty-one
thousand one hundred and fifty-one ; so that the balance in
favor of England was three hundred and forty-six thousand
two hundred and eighty-four."* But in 1622 the exports
were two million three hundred and twenty thousand four
hundred and thirtj-six pounds ; the imports, two million six
hundred and nineteen thousand three hundred and fifteen
— which makes a balance of two hundred and ninety-eight
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine pounds against
England."^ The coinage of England from 1599 to 1619
amounted to four million seven hundred and seventy-nine
thousand three hundred and fourteen pounds thirteen shil-
lings and fourpence*' — a proof that the balance, in the main,
was considerably in favor of the kingdom. As the annual
imports and exports together rose to near five millions, and
the customs never yielded so much as two hundred thousand
pounds a year, of wlich tonnage made a part, it appears
that the new rates affixed by James did not, on the whole,
65 Misselden'sClrcle of Commerce, p. 121. ™ IWd.
6' Happy Future State of Eugland, p. 78.
108' HISTOKY OF ENGLAND.
amount to one shilling in the pound, and, consequently,
were still inferior to the intention of the original grant of
Parliament. The East India Company usually carried out
a third of their cargo in commodities.^" The trade to
Turkey was one of the most gainful to the nation.^' It ap-
pears that copper half-pence and farthings began to be
coined in this reign.™ Tradesmen had commonly carried
on their retail business chiefly by means of leaden tokens.
The small silver penny was soon lost, and at this time was
nowhere to be found.
What chiefly renders the reign of James memorable is
the commencement of the English colonies in America —
colonies established on the noblest footing that has been
known in any age or nation. The Spaniards, being the
first discoverers of the New World, immediately took pos-
session of the precious mines which they found there ; and,
by the allurement of great riches, they were tempted to de-
populate their own country as well as that which they con-
quered ; and added the vice of sloth to those of avidity and
barbarity, which had attended their adventurers in those
renowned enterprises. That fine coast was entirely neg-
lected which reaches from St. Augustine to Cape Breton,
and which lies in all the temperate climates, is watered by
noble rivers, and offers a fertile soil, but nothing more, to
the industrious planter. Peopled gradually from England
by the necessitous and indigent, who at home increased
neither wealth nor populousness, the colonies which were
planted along that tract have promoted the navigation, en-
courpged the industry, and even perhaps multiplied the in-
habitants of their mother country. The spirit of indepen-
dence, which was reviving in England, here shone forth in
its full lustre, and received new accession from the aspiring
character of those who, being discontented with the estab-
lished church and monarchy, had sought for freedom amid
those savage deserts.
Queen Elizabeth had done little more than given a name
to the continent of Virginia ; and after her plantino- one
feeble colony, which quickly decayed, that country was en-
tirely abandoned. But when peace put an end to the mili-
tary enterprises against Spain, and left ambitious spirits no
hopesof making any longer such rapid advances towards
™ Munn's Discourse on the East India Trade.'
«» Munn's Discourse on the East India Trade, p. 17.]
'"..Anderson, vol. i. p. 477.
HISTOET OP ENGLAND. 109
honor and fortune, the nation began to second the pacific
intentions of its monarch, and to seek a surer though
slower expedient for acquiring riches and glory. In 1606
Newport carried over a colony, and began a settlement,
which the company, erected by patent for that purpose in
London and Bristol, took care to supply with yearly re-
cruits of provisions, utensils, and new inhabitants. About
1609, Argal discovered a more direct and shorter passage
to Virginia, and left the track of the ancient navigators,
who had first directed their course southwards to the tropic,
sailed westward by means of the trade-winds, and then turned
northwards, till they reached the English settlements. The
same year five hundred persons, under Sir Thomas Gates
and Sir George Somers, were embarked for Virginia.
Somers's ship, meeting with a tempest, was driven into the
Bermudas, and laid the foundation of a settlement in those
islands. Lord Delawar afterwards undertook the govern-
ment of the English colonies ; but, notwithstanding all his
care, seconded by supplies from James and by money raised
from the first lottery ever known in the kingdom, such dif-
ficulties attended the settlement of these countries that in
1614 there were not alive more than four hundred men of
all that had been sent thither. After supplying themselves
with provisions more immediately necessary for the support
of life, the new planters began the cultivating of tobacco ;
and James, notwithstanding his antipathy to that drug,
■which he affirmed to be pernicious to men's morals as well
as their health,'^ gave them permission to enter it in Eng-
land ; and he inhibited by proclamation all importation of
it from Spain.'^ By degrees new colonies were established
in that continent, and gave new names to the places where
they settled, leaving that of Virginia to the province first
planted. The island of Barbadoes was also planted in this
reign.
Speculative reasoners, during that age, raised many ob-
jections to the planting of those remote colonies ; and fore-
told that, after draining their mother country of inhabitants,
they would soon shake off her yoke and erect an indepen-
dent government m America ; but time has shown that the
views entertained by those who encouraged such generous
undertakings were more just and solid. A mild govern-
ment and great naval force have preserved, and may still
preserve during some time, the dominion of England over
" Rymer, vol. xvii. p. 621. " Kymer, vol. xviii. pp. 621, 633.
110 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
her coloDies; and such advantages have commerce and
navigation reaped from these establishments that more than
a fourth of the English shipping is at present computed to
be employed in carrying on the traffic with the American
settlements.
Agriculture was anciently very imperfect in England.
The sudden transitions, so often mentioned by historians,
from tlie lowest to the highest price of grain, and the pro-
digious inequality of its value in different years, are suf-
ficient proofs that the produce depended entirely on the
seasons, and that art had as yet done nothing to fence
against the injuries of the heavens. During this reign con-
siderable improvements were made, as in most arts, so in
this, the most beneiicial of any. A numerous catalogue
might be formed of books and pamphlets treating of hus-
bandry which were written about this time. The nation,
however, was still dependent on foreigners for daily bread ;
and though its exportation of grain now forms a consider-
able branch of its commerce, notwithstanding its probable
increase of people, there was in that period a regular impor-
tation from the Baltic, as well as from France ; and if it
ever stopped, the bad consequences were sensibly felt by
the nation. Sir Walter Raleigh, in his Observations, com-
putes that two millions went out at one time for corn. It
was not till the fifth of Elizabeth that the exportation of
corn had been allowed in England ; and Camden observes
that agriculture from that moment received new life and
vigor.
The endeavors of James, or, more properly speaking,
those of the nation, for promoting trade were attended with
greater success than those for the encouragement of learn-
ing. Though the age was by no means destitute of emi-
nent writers, a very bad taste in general prevailed during
that period, and the monarch himself was not a little infected
with it. f
On the origin of letters among the Greeks, the -genius of
poets and orators, as might naturally be expected, was dis-
tinguished by an amiable simplicity, which, whatever rude-
ness may sometimes attend it, is so fitted to express the
genuine movements of nature and passion that the composi-
tions possessed of it must ever appear valuable to the dis-
cerning part of mankind. The glaring figures of discourse
the pointed antithesis, the unnatural conceit, the jingle of
words — such false ornaments were not employed by early
' HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. Ill
writers ; not because they were rejected, but because they
scarcely ever occurred to them. An easy, unforced strain
of sentiment runs through their compositions ; though at
the same time we may observe that, amid the most elegant
simplicity of thought and expression, one is sometimes sur-
prised to meet with a poor conceit, which had presented it-
self unsought for, and which the author had not acquired
critical observation enough to condemn.'^ A bad taste
seizes with avidity these frivolous beauties, and even per-
haps a good taste, ere surfeited by them ; they multiply
every day more and more in the fashionable compositions ;
nature and good sense are neglected, labored ornaments
studied and admired, and a total degeneracy of style and
language prepares the way for barbarism and ignorance.
Hence the Asiatic manner was tound to depart so much
from the simple purity of Athens ; hence that tinsel elo-
quence which is observable in muny of the Roman writers,
from which Cicero himself is' not wholly exempted, and
which so much prevails in Ovid, Seneca, Lucan, Martial,
and the Plinys.
On the revival of letters, when the judgment of the pub-
lic fs yet raw and uninfortned, this false glitter catches the
eye, and leaves no room, either in eloquence or poetry, for
the durable beauties of solid sense and lively passion. The
reigning genius is then diametrically opposite to that which
prevails on the first origin of arts. The Italian writers, it
is evident, even the most celebrated, have not reached the
proper simplicity of thought and composition ; and in Pe-
ti'arch, Tasso, Guarini, frivolous witticisms and forced con-
ceits are but too predominant. The period during which
letters were cultivated in Italy was so short as scarcely to
allow leisure for correcting this adulterated relish.
Tlie more early French writers are liable to the same re-
proach. Voiture, Balzac, even Corneille, have too much af-
fected those ambitious ornaments of which the Italians in
general, and the least pure of the ancients, supplied them
with so many models ; and it M'as not till late that observa-
" The name of PolyTiices, one of CEdipus's sons, means in the original much
quarrelling. In the altercations between the two brothers, in ^schylus, Sopho-
cles, and Euripides, this conceit is employed ; and it is remarkable that so poor
a conundrum could not be rejected by any of these tliree poets, so justly cele-
brated for their taste and simplicity. What could Shalcspeare liave done worse ?
Terence has his " inceptio est amentium, non amantium." Many similar in-
stances will occur to the'learned. It is well known that Aristotle treats very se-
riously of puns, divides them into several classes, and recommends the use of
them to orators.
112 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
tion and reflection gave rise to a more natural turn of
thought and composition among that elegant people.
A like character may be extended to the first English
writers ; such as flourished during the reigns of Elizabeth
and James, and even till long afterwards. Learning, on its
revival in this island, was attired in the same unnatural
garb which it wore at the time of its decay among the
Greeks and Romans ; and, what may be regarded as a mis-
fortune, the English writers were possessed of great genius
before they were endowed with any degree of taste, and by
that means gave a kind of sanction to those forced turns
and sentiments which they so much affected. ' Their dis-
torted conceptions and expressions are attended with such
vigor of mind that we admire the imagination which pro-
duced them as much as we blame the want of judgment
which gave them admittance. To enter into an exact criti-
cism of the writers of that age would exceed our present
purpose. A short character of the most eminent, delivered
with the same freedom which history exercises over kings
and ministers, may not be improper. The national prepos-
sessions which prevail will, perhaps, render the former lib-
erty not the least perilous for an author.
If Shakspeare be considered as a man born in a rude
age and educated in the lowest manner, without any in-
struction either from the world or from books, he may be
regarded as a prodigy ; if represented as a poet capable of
furnishing a proper entertainment to a refined or intelligent
audience, we must abate much of this eulogy. In his com-
positions, we regret that many irregularities, and even ab-
surdities, should so frequently disfigure the animated and
passionate scenes intermixed with them ; and, at the same
time, we perhaps admire the more those beauties on account
of their being surrounded with such deformities. A strik-
ing peculiarity of sentiment, adapted to a single character,
he frequently hits, as it were, by inspiration ; but a reason-
able propriety of thought he cannot for any time uphold.
Nervous and picturesque expressions as well as descriptions
abound in him ; but it is in vain we look either for purity
or simplicity of diction. His total ignorance of all theatri-
cal art and conduct, however material a defect, yet, as it
affects the spectator rather than the reader, we can more
easily excuse than that want of taste which often prevails
in his productions, and which gives way only by intervals
to the irradiations of genius. A great and fertile genius he
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 113
certainly possessed, and one enriched equally"witli a tragic
and comic veia ; but he ought to be cited as a proof how
dangerous it is to rely on these advantages alone for attain-
ing an excellence in the finer arts.'* And there may even
remain a suspicion that we overrate, if possible, the great-
ness of his genius ; in the same manner as bodies often ap-
pear more gigantic on account of their being dispropor-
tioned and misshapen. He died in 1616, aged fifty-three
years.
Jonson possessed all the learning which was wanting to
Shalsspeare, and M^anted all the genius of which the other
was possessed. Both of them were equally deficient in taste
and elegance, in harmony and correctness. A servile copy-
ist of the ancients, Jonson translated into bad English the
beautiful passages of the Greek and Roman authors, without
accommodating them to the manners of his age and coun-
try. His merit has been totally eclipsed by that of Shak-
speare, whose rude genius prevailed over the rude art of his
contemporary. The English theatre has ever since taken a
strong tincture of Shakspeare's spirit and character ; and
thence it has proceeded that the natioij has undergone from
all its neighbors the reproach of barbarism, from which its
valuable productions in some other parts of learning would
otherwise have exempted it. Jonson had a pension of a
hundred marks from the king, which Charles afterwards
augmented to a hundred pounds. He died in 1637, aged
sixty-three.
Fairfax has translated Tasso with an elegance and ease,
and at the same time with an exactness, which for that age
are surprising. Each line in the original is faithfully ren-
dered by a correspondent line in the translation. Harring-
ton's translation of Ariosto is not likewise without its merit.
It is to be regretted that these poets should have imitated
the Italians in their stanza, which has a prolixity and uni-
formity in it that displease in long performances. They
had otherwise, as well as Spenser, who went before them,
contributed much to the polishing and refining of English
versification.
In Donne's satires, when carefully inspected, there appear
some flashes of wit and ingenuity ; but these totally suf-
focated and buried by the hardest and most uncouth expres-
sion that is anywhere to be met with.
" " Invenire etiam barbari solent, disponere et ornare non nisi erudltu."—
Vol. IV.— 8
114 HISTvJEY OF ENGLAND.
If the poetry of the English was so rude and imperfect
during that age, we may reasonably expect that their prose
would be liable to still greater objections. Though the
latter appears the more easy, as it is the more natural method
of composition, it has ever in practice been found the more
rare and difficult ; and there scarcely is an instance, in any
language, that it has reached a degree of perfection before
the refinement of poetical numbers and expression. English
prose during the reign of James was written with little
regard to the ruleaof grammar, and with a total disregard
to the elegance and harmony of the period. Stuffed with
Latin sentences and quotations, it likewise imitated those
inversions which, however forcible and graceful in the ancient
languages, are entirely contrary to the idiom of the English.
I shall, indeed, venture to affirm that whatever uncouth
phrases and expressions occur in old books, they were chiefly
owing to the unformed taste of the author ; and that the
language spoken in the courts of Elizabeth and James was
very little different from that which we meet with at present
in good company. Of this opinion . the little scraps of
speeches which are found in the parliamentary journals, and
which carry an air so opposite to the labored orations, seem
to be a sufficient proof ; and there want not productions of
that age which, being written by men who were not authors
by profession, retain a very natural manner, and may give
us some idea of the language which prevailed among men of
the world. I shall particularly mention Sir Jolin Davis's
Discovery ; Throgmorton's, Essex's, and Nevil's Letters. In
a more early period. Cavendish's Life of Cardinal Wolsey,
the pieces that remain of Bishop Gardiner and Anne Boleyn's
letter to the king differ little or nothing from the language
of our time.
The great glory of literature in this island during the
reign of James was Lord Bacon. Most of his performances
were composed in Latin ; though he possessed neither the
elegance of that nor of his native tongue. If we consider
the variety of talents displayed by this man — as a public
speaker, a man of business, a wit, a courtier, a companion,
an author, a philosopher— he is justly the object of great
admiration. If we consider him merely as an author and
philosopher, the light in which we view him at present,
thought very estimable, he was yet inferior to his contem-
porary Galileo, perhaps even to Kepler. Bacon pointed out
at a distance the road to true phibsopby. Galileo both
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 115
pointed it out to others and made himself considerable
advances in it. The Englishman was ignorant of geom-
etry. The Florentine revived that science, excelled in
it, and was the first that applied it, together with ex-
periment, to natural philosophy. The former rejected,
with the most positive disdain, the system of Copernicus ;
the latter fortified it with new proofs, derived both from
reason and the senses. Bacon's style is stiff and rigid ;
his wit, though often brilliant, is also often unnatural and
far-fetched ; and he seems to be the original of those
pointed similes and long-spun allegories which so much dis-
tinguish the English authors ; Galileo is a lively and agreea-
ble, though somewhat a prolix writer. But Italy, not united
in any single government, and perhaps satiated with that
literary glory which it has possessed both in ancient and
modern times, has too much neglected the renown which it
has acquired by giving birth to so great a man. That
national spirit which prevails among the English, and which
forms their great happiness, is the cause why they bestow
on all their eminent writers, and on Bacon among the rest,
Buch praises and acclamations as may often appear partial
and excessive. He died in 1626, in the sixty-sixth year of
his age.
If the reader of Raleigh's History can have the patience
to wade through the Jewish and rabbinical learning which
compose the half of the volume, he will find, when he comes
to the Greek and Roman story, that his pains are not un-
rewarded. Raleigh is the best model of that ancient style
which some writers would affect to revive at present. He
was beheaded in 1618, aged sixty-six years.
Camden's History of Queen Elizabeth may be esteemed
good composition, both for style and matter. It is written
with simplicity of expression, very rare in that age, and
with a regard to truth. It would not, perhaps, be too much
to affirm that it is among the best historical productions
which have yet been composed by any Englishman. It is
w^ell known that the English have not much excelled in that
kind of literature. He died in 1623, aged seventy-three
years.
We shall mention the king himself at the end of these
English writers ; because that is Ms place, when considered
as an author. It may safely be affirmed that the mediocrity
of James's talents in literature, joined to the great change
in national taste, is one cause of that contempt under which
116 filSTOET OF ENGLAND,
his memory labors, and which is often carried bv party
writers to a great extreme. It is remarkable how different
from ours were the sentiments of the ancients with regard
to learning. Of the first twenty Roman emperors, counting
from Cassar to Severus, above the half were authors ; and
though few of them seem to have been eminent in that pro-
%ssion, it is always remarked to their praise that by their
example they encouraged literature. Not to mention Ger-
manicus, and his daughter Agrippina, persons so nearly
allied to the throne, the greater part of the classic writers
whose works remain were men of the highest quality. As
every human advantage is attended with inconveniences,
the change of men's ideas in this particular may probably be
ascribed to the invention of printing, which has rendered
books so common that even men of slender fortunes can
have access to them.
That James was but a middling writer may be allowed ;
that he was a contemptible one can by no means be admitted.
Whoever will read his Basilicon Doron, particularly the two
last books, the True Law of Free Monarchies, his answer to
Cardinal Perron, and almost all his speeches and messages
to Parliament, will confess him to have possessed no mean
genius. If he wrote concerning witches and apparitions,
who in that age did not admit the reality of these fictitious
beings? If he has composed a commentary on the Revelar
tions, and proved the pope to be Antichrist, may not a similar
reproach be extended to the famous Napier, and even to
Newton, at a time when learning was much more advanced
than during the reign of James ? From the grossness of its
superstitions we may infer the ignorance of an age, but never
should pronounce concerning the folly of an individual from
his admitting popular errors consecrated by the appearance
of religion.
Such a superiority do the pursuits of literature possess
above every other occupation that even he who attains but
a mediocrity in them merits the pre-eminence above those
that excel the most in the common and vulgar professions.
The speaker of the House of Commons is usually an eminent
lawyer; yet the harangue of his majesty will always be
found much superior to that of the speaker in every Parlia-
ment during his reign.
Every science, as well as polite literature, must be con-
sidered as being yet in its infancy. Scholastic learning and
polemical divinity retarded the growth of all true knowledge.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 117
Sir Henry Saville, in the preamble of that deed by which he
annexed a salary to the mathematical and astronomical pro-
fessors in Oxford, says that geometry was almost totally
abandoned and unknown in England." The best learning
of that age was the study of the ancients. Casaubon, emi-
nent for this species of knowledge, was invited over from
France by James, and encouraged by a pension of three
hundred pounds a year, as well as by church preferments.'*
The famous Antonio di Domiuis, Archbishop of Spalatro,
no despicable philosopher, came likewise into England, and
afforded great triumph to the nation by their gaining so
considerable a proselyte from the Papists. But the mortifi-
cation followed soon after. The archbishop, though advanced
to some ecclesiastical preferments," received not encourage-
ment sufficient to satisfy his ambition ; he made his escape
into Italy, where he died in confinement.
'5 Eymer, vol. xvii. p. 217. " Kymer, vol. xvii. p. 709.
" Kymer, vol. xvii. p. 95.
118 HISTOEY OP ENGLAND.
CHAPTER L.
CHARLES I.
A PARLIAMENT AT WESTMINSTER. AT OXFORD. NAVAL EX-
PEDITION AGAINST SPAIN. SECOND PARLIAMENT. — IM-
PEACHMENT OP BUCKINGHAM. VIOLENT MEASURES OP
THE COURT. WAR WITH PRANCE. EXPEDITION TO THE
ISLE OP RHB.
[1625.] No sooner had Charles taken into his hands
the reins of government than he showed an impatience to as-
semble the great council of the nation ; and he would gladly,
for the sake of despatch, have called together the same
Parliament which had sitten under his father, and which
lay at that time under prorogation. But being told that this
measure would appear unusual, he issued writs for summon-
ing a new Parliament on the 7th of May; and it was not
without regret that the arrival of the Princess Henrietta,
whom he had espoused by proxy, obliged him to delay,
by repeated prorogations, their meeting till the 18th of
June, when they assembled at Westminster for the despatch
of business. The young prince, inexperienced and impoli-
tic, regarded as sincere all the praises and caresses with
which he had been loaded while active in procuring the
rupture with the house of Austria ; and, besides that he
labored under great necessities, he hastened with alacrity
to a period when he might receive the most undoubted tes-
timony of the dutiful attachments of his subjects. His
discourse to the Parliament was full of simplicity and cor-
diality. He lightly mentioned the occasion which he had
for supply.^ He employed no intrigue to influence the
(suffrages of the members. He would not even allow the
officers of the crown who had seats in the House to mention
any particular sura which might be expected by him. Se-
cure of the affections of the Commons, he was resolved that
their bounty should be entirely their own deed — unasked,
" Rushwortli, vol. i. p. 171. Parliamentary History, TOl. Ti. p. 346. Pranlt-
Ivn, p. 108.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. ITi)-
tinsolicited — the genuine fruit of sincere confidence and
regard.
The House of Commons accordingly took into consider-
ation the business of supply. They knew that all the money
granted by the last Parliament had been expended on naval
and military armaments, and that great anticipations were
likewise made on the revenues of the crown. They were
not ignorant that Charles was loaded with a large debt,
contracted by his father, who had borrowed money both
from his own subjects and from foreign princes. They had
learned by experience that the public revenue could with
diflBculty maintain the dignity of the crown, even under the
ordinary charges of government. They were sensible that
the present war was very lately the result of their own im-
portunate applications and entreaties, and that they had
solemnly engaged to support their sovereign in the manage-
ment of it. They were acquainted with the difficulty of
military enterprises directed against the whole house of
Austria ; against the King of Spain, possessed of the great-;
est riches and most extensive dominions of any prince in'
Europe ; against the emperor Ferdinand, hitherto the most
fortunate monarch of his age, who had subdued and aston^
ished Germany by the rapidity of his victories. Deep im-
pressions, they saw, must be made by the English sword,
and a vigorous offensive war be waged against these mighty
potentates, ere they would resign a principality which they
had now fully subdued, and which they held in secure pos-
session, by its being surrounded with all their other terri-
tories.
To answer, therefore, all these great and important
ends ; to satisfy their young king in the first request which
he made them; to provetheir sense of the many royal vir-
tues, particularly economy, with which Charles was endowed,
the House of Commons, conducted by the wisest and ablest
senators that had ever flourished in England, thought
proper to confer on the king a supply of two subsidies,
amounting to one hundred and twelve thousand pounds.^
This measure, which discovers rather a cruel mockery
of Charles than any serious design of supporting him, ap-
pears so extraordinary, when considered in all its circum-
stances, that it naturally summons up our attention and
raises an inquiry concerning the causes of a conduct unpre-
2 A subsidy was now fallen to about fifty-six thousand pounds.— Cabala, p.
S24, first edit.
120 HISTOET OP ENGLAND.
cedented in an English Parliament. So numerous an as-
sembly, composed of persons of various dispositions, was
not, it is probable, wholly influenced by the same motives,
and few declared openly their true reason. We shall,
therefore, approach nearer to the truth if we mention all
the views which the present conjuncture could suggest to
them.
It is not to be doubted but spleen and ill-will against
the Duke of Buckingham had an influence with many. So
vast and rapid a fortune, so little merited, could not fail to
excite public envy ; and however men's hatred might have
been suspended for a moment, while the duke's conduct
seemed to gratify their passions and their prejudices, it was
impossible for him long to preserve the affections of the
people. His influence over the modesty of Charles exceed-
ed even that which he had acquired over the weakness of
James ; nor was any public measure conducted but by his
counsel and direction. His vehement temper prompted
him to raise suddenly to the highest elevation his flatterers
and dependants, and upon the least occasion of displeasure
he threw them down with equal impetuosity and violence.
Implacable in his hatred, fickle in his friendships, all men
were either regarded as his enemies or dreaded soon to be-
come such. The whole power of the kingdom was grasped
by his insatiable hand, while he both engrossed the entire
confidence of his master and held, invested in his single
person, the most considerable offices of the crown.
However the ill-humor of the Commons might have
been increased by these considerations, we are not to sup-
pose them the sole motives. The last Parliament of James,
amid all their joy and festivity, had given him a supply very
disproportioned to his demand and to the occasion ; and,
as every House of Commons which was elected during forty
years succeeded to all the passions and principles of their
]iredecessors, we ought rather to account for this obstinacy
from the general situation of the kingdom during that whole
period than from any circumstances which attended this
particular conjecture.
The nation was very little accustomed at that time to
the burden of taxes, and had never opened their purses in
any degree for supporting their sovereign. Even Elizabeth,
notwithstanding her vigor and frugality, and the necessary
wars in which she was engaged, had reason to complain o'f
the Commons in this particular ; nor could the authority
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 121
of that princess, which was otherwise almost absolute, ever
extort from them the requisite supplies. Habits, more
than reason, we find in everything to be the governing
principle of mankind. In this view, likewise, the sinking
of the value of subsidies must be considered as a loss to the
king. The Parliament, swayed by custom, would not aug-
ment their number in the same proportion.
The puritanical party, though disguised, had a great au-
thority over the kingdom, and many of the leaders among
the Commons had secretly embraced the rigid tenets of that
sect. All these were disgusted with the court, both by the
prevalence of the principles of civil liberty essential to
their party, and on account of the restraint under which
they were held by the established hierarchy. In order
to fortify himself against the resentment of James, Buck-
ingham had affected popularity, and entered into the
cabals of the Puritans ; but, being secure of the confidence
of Charles, he had since abandoned this party, and on that
account was the more exposed to their hatred and resent-
ment. Though the religious schemes of many of the Puri-
tans, when explained, appeared pretty frivolous, we are not
thence to imagine that they were pursued by none but per-
sons of weak understandings. Some men of the greatest
parts and most extensive knowledge that the nation at this
time produced could not enjoy any peace of mind because
obliged to hear prayers offered up to the Divinity by a
priest covered with a white linen vestment.
The match with France, and the articles in favor of
CatholicSjWhich were suspected to be in the treaty, were
likewise causes of disgust to this whole party ; though it
must be remarked that the connections with that crown
were much less obnoxious to the Protestants and less agree-
able to the Catholics than the alliance formerly projected
with Spain, and were therefore received rather with pleas-
ure than dissatisfaction.
To all these causes we must yet add another of consider-
able moment. The House of Commons, we may observe,
was almost entirely governed by a set of men of the most
uncommon capacity and the largest views — men who were
now formed into a regular party, and united, as well by
fixed aims and projects as by the hardships which some of
them had undergone in prosecution of them. Among these
we may mention the names of Sir Edward Coke, Sir Edwin
Sandys, Sir Robert Philips, Sir Francis Seymour, Sir Dudley
122 HIS.TOET OF ENGLAND,
Digges, Sir John Elliot, Sir Thomas Wentworth, Mr. Sel-
den, and Mr. Pym. Animated with a warm regard to lib-
erty, these generous patriots saw with regret an unbounded
power exercised by the crown, and were resolved to seize
the opportunity which the king's necessities offered them
of reducing the prerogative within more reasonable com-
pass. Though their ancestors had blindly given way to
practices and precedents favorable to kingly power, and
had been able, notwithstanding, to preserve some small re-
mains of liberty, it would be impossible, they thought, when
all these pretensions were methodized and prosecuted by
the increasing knowledge of the age, to maintain any
shadow of popular government in opposition to such unlim-
ited authority in the sovereign. It was necessary to fix a
choice : either to abandon entirely the privileges of the peo-
ple or to secure them by firmer and more precise barriers
than the constitution had hitherto provided for them. In
this dilemma men of such aspiring geniuses and such inde-
pendent fortunes could not long deliberate: they boldly
embraced the side of freedom, and resolved to grant no sup-
plies to their necessitous prince without extorting conces-
sions in favor of civil liberty. The end they esteemed
beneficent and noble, the means regular and constitutional.
To grant or refuse supplies was the undoubted privilege of
the Commons; and as all human governments, particularly
those of a mixed frame, are in continual fluctuation, it was
as natural, in their opinion, and allowable, for popular as-
semblies to take advantage of favorable incidents in order
to secure the subject as for monarchs in order to extend
their own authority. With pleasure they beheld the king
involved in a foreign war which rendered him every day
more dependent on the Parliament, while at the same time
the situation of the kingdom, even without any military
preparations, gave it sufiicient security against all invasion
from foreigners. Perhaps, too, it had partly proceeded
from expectations of this nature that the popular leaders
had been so urgent for a rupture with Spain ; nor is it
credible that religious zeal could so far have blinded all of
them as to make them discover in such a measure any ap-
pearance of necessity or any hope of success.
But however natural all these sentiments might appear
to the country party, it is not to be imagined that Charles
would entertain the same idea. Strongly prejudiced in
favor of the duke, whom he had heard so highly extolled in
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 123
ParMament, he could not conjecture the cause of so sudden
an alteration in their opinions ; and when the war which
they themselves had so earnestly solicited was at last com-
menced, the immediate desertion of their sovereign could
not but seem very unaccountable. Even though no further
motive had been suspected, the refusal of supply in such
circumstances would naturally to him appear cruel and
deceitful; but when he perceived that this measure pro-
ceeded from an intention of encroaching on his authority, he
failed not to regard these claims as highly criminal and
traitorous. Those lofty ideas of monarchical power which
were very commonly adopted during that age, and to which
the ambiguous nature of the English constitution gave so
plausible an appearance, were firmly riveted in Charles ;
and however moderate his temper, the natural and unavoid-
able prepossessions of self-love, joined to the late uniform
precedents in favor of prerogative, had made him regard
his political tenets as certain and uncontroverted. Taught
to consider even the ancient laws and constitution more
as lines to direct his conduct than barriers to withstand his
power, a conspiracy to erect new ramparts in order to
straiten his authority appeared but one degree removed
from open sedition and rebellion. So atrocious in his eyes
was such a design that he seems even unwilling to impute
it to the Commons ; and though he was constrained to ad-
journ the Parliament by reason of the plague, which at
that time raged in London, he immediately reassembled
them at Oxford, and made a new attempt to gain from
them some supplies in such an urgent necessity.
Charles now found himself obliged to depart from that
delicacy which he had formerly maintained. By himself or
his ministers, he entered into a particiilar detail both of the
alliances which he had formed and of the military operations
which he had projected.' He told the Parliament that by
a promise of subsidies he had engaged the King of Denmark
to take part in the war; that this monarch intended to
enter Germany by the north, and to rouse to arms those
princes who impatiently longed for an opportunity of as-
serting the liberty of the empire ; that Mansfeldt had
undertaken to penetrate with an English army into the
Palatinate, and by that quarter to excite the members of
the evangelical union ; that the States must be supported in
the unequal warfare which they maintained with Spain ;
3 Dugdale, pp. 25, 26.
124 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
that no less a sum than seven hundred thousand pounds a
year had been found, by computation, requisite for all these
purposes ; that the maintenance of the fleet and the defence
of Ireland demanded an annual expense of four hundred
thousand poimds ; that he himself had already exhausted
and anticipated in the public service his whole revenue,
and had scarcely left sufficient for the daily subsistence of
himself and his family;^ that on his accession to the crown
he found a debt of above three hundred thousand pounds,
contracted by his father in support of the Palatine ; and
that, while Prince of Wales, he had himself contracted debts,
notwithstanding his great frugality, to the amount of
seventy thousand pounds, which he had expended entirely
on naval and military armaments. After mentioning all
these facts, the king even condescended to use entreaties.
He said that this request was the first that he had ever made
them ; that he was young, and in the commencement of his
reign ; and if he now met with kind and dutiful usage, it
would endear to him the use of parliaments, and would for-
ever preserve an entire harmony between him and his
people.*
To these reasons the Commons remained inexorable.
Notwithstanding that the king's measures, on the supposi-
tion of a foreign war, which they had constantly demanded,
were altogether unexceptionable, they obstinately refused
any further aid. Some members, favorable to the court, hav-
ing insisted on an addition of two-fifteenths to the former
supply, even this pittance was refused,^ though it was known
that a fleet and army were lying at Portsmouth in great
want of pay and provisions, and that Buckingham, the admi-
ral, and the treasurer of the navy, had advanced on their
own credit near a hundred thousand pounds for the sea-
service.' Besides all their other motives, the House of Com-
mons had made a discovery which, as they wanted but a
pretence for their refusal, inflamed them against the court
and against the Duke of Buckingham.
When James deserted the Spanish alliance, and courted
that of France, he had promised to furnish Louis, who was
entirely destitute of naval force, with one ship-of-war, to-
gether with seven armed vessels hired from the merchants.
These the French court had pretended they would employ
* Parliamentary History, vol. vi. p. 396,
» RushworUi, vol. i. pp. 177, 178, etc. Parliamentary Hlstorv, vol vi n ■im
Fraiiklyn, pp. 108, 109. Journal, August 10, 1625. j. voi. vi. p. aja.
6 Bushwortli, vol. i. 190. ' Parliamentary History, vol. vi. p. 390.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 125
against the Genoese, who, being firm and useful allies to the
Spanish monarchy, were naturally regarded with an evil eye
both by the King of France and of England. When these
vessels by Charles's orders arrived at Dieppe, there arose a
strong suspicion that they were to serve against Rochelle.
The sailors were inflamed. That race of men, who are at
present both careless and ignorant in all matters of religion,
were at that time only ignorant. They drew up a remon-
strance to Pennington, their commander; and, signing all
their names in a circle, lest he should discover the ringleaders,
they laid it under his prayer book. Pennington declared
that he would rather be hanged in England for disobedience
than fight against his brother Protestants in France. The
whole squadron sailed immediately to the Downs. There
they received new orders from Buckingham, lord admiral,
to return to Dieppe. As the duke knew that authority alone
would not suffice, he employed much art and many subtle-
ties to engage tliem to obedience, and a rumor which was
spread that peace had been concluded between the French
king and the Huguenots assisted him in his purpose. When
they arrived at Dieppe, they found that they had been de-
ceived. Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who commanded one of
the vessels, broke through and returned to England. All
the officers and sailors of all the other ships, notwithstand-
ing great offers made them by the French, immediately
deserted. One gunner alone preferred duty towards his
king to the cause of religion, and he was afterwards killed
in charging a cannon before Rochelle." The care which his-
torians have taken to record this frivolous event proves with
what pleasure the news was received by the nation.
The House of Commons, when informed of these trans-
actions, showed the same attachment with the sailors for the .
Protestant religion ; nor was their zeal much better guided
by reason and sound policy. It was not considered that it
was highly probable the king and the duke themselves had
here been deceived by the artifices of France, nor had they
any hostile intention against the Huguenots ; that were it
otherwise, yet might their measures be justified by the most
obvious and most received maxims of civil policy ; that if
the force of Spain were really so exorbitant as the Commons
imagmed, the French monarch was the only prince that
could oppose its progress and preseiwe the balance of Eu-
rope ; that his power was at present fettered by the Hugue-
« Franklyii, p. 109. Eushworth, vol. 1. pp. 170, 176, etc., 329, 326, etc.
126 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
nots, who, being possessed of many privileges, and even of
'fortified towns, formed an empire within his empire, and
kept him in perpetual jealousy and inquietude; that an in-
surrection had been at that time wantonly and voluntarily
formed by their leaders, who, being disgusted in some court
intrigue, took advantage of the never-failing pretence of
religion in order to cover their rebellion ; that the Dutch,
influenced by these views, had ordered a squadron of twenty
ships to join the French fleet employed against the inhab-
itants of Rochelle ; ' that the Spanish monarch, sensible of
the same consequences, secretly supported the Protestants
in France ; and that all princes had ever sacrificed to rea-
sons of state the interests of their religion in foreign coun-
tries. All these obvious considerations had no influence.
Great murmurs and discontents still prevailed in Parlia-
ment. The Huguenots, though they had no ground of com-
plaint against the French court, were thought to be as much
entitled to assistance from England as if they had taken
arms in defence of their liberties and religion against the
persecuting rage of the Catholics. And it plainl}^ appears
from this incident, as well as from many others, that of all
European nations the British were at that time, and till long
after, the most under the influence of that religious spirit
which tends rather to inflame bigotry than increase peace
and mutual charity.
On this occasion the Commons renewed their eternal
complaints against the growth of popery, which was ever
the chief of their grievances, and now their only one." They
demanded a strict execution of the penal laws against the
Catholics, and remonstrated against some late pardons
granted to priests." They attacked Montague, one of the
king's chaplains, on account of a moderate book which he
had lately published, and' which, to their great disgust,
saved virtuous Catholics as well as other Christians from
eternal torments.^'' - Charles gave them a gracious and com-
pliant answer to all their remonstrances. "He was, however,
in Lis heart extremely averse "to these furious measures.
Though a determined Protestant- by principle as well as
inclination, he had entertained no violent horror agamst
popery, and a little humanity, he thought, was due by the
nation to the religion of their ancestors. That deo-ree of
liberty which is now indulged to Catholics, though a party
' Journal, April 18, 1626. lo Franklyn, p. s. eto.
" Parliamentary History, vol. vi. p. 374. Journal, August 1, 1625
« Parliamentary History, vol. vi, p. 353. Journal, July T, 1625.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 127
much more obnoxious than during the reign of the Stuarts,
it suited neither with Charles's sentiments nor the humor of
the age to allow them. An abatement of the more rigorous
laws was all he intended, and his engagements with France,
notwithstanding that their regular execution had never been
promised or expected, required of him some indulgence.
But so unfortunate was this prince that no measure em-
braced during his whole reign was ever attended with more
unhappy and more fatal consequences.
The extreme rage against popery was a sure character-
istic of Puritanism. The House of Commons discovei-ed
other infallible symptoms of the prevalence of that party.
They petitioned the king for replacing such able clergy as
had been silenced for want of conformity to the ceremonies.^'
They also enacted laws for the strict observance of Sunday,
which the Puritans affected to call the Sabbath, and which
they sanctified by the most melancholy indolence." It is to
be remarked that the different appellations of this festival
were at that time known symbols of the different parties.
The king, finding that the Parliament was resolved to
grant him no supply, and would furnish him with nothing
but empty protestations of duty^° or disagreeable complaints
of grievances, "took advantage of the plague,^" which began
to appear at Oxford, and on that pretence immediately dis-
solved them. By finishing the session with a dissolution,
instead of a prorogation, he sufficiently expressed his dis-
pleasure of their conduct.
To supply the want of parliamentary aids, Charles issued
privy seals for borrowing money from his subjects." The
advantage reaped by this expedient was a small com-
pensation for the disgust which it occasioned ; by means,
however, of that supply, and by other expedients, he was,
though with difficulty, enabled to equip his fleet. It con-
sisted of eighty vessels, great and small, and carried on
board an army of ten thousand men. Sir Edward Cecil,
lately created Viscount Wimbleton, was intrusted with the
command. He sailed immediately for Cadiz, and found the
bay full of Spanish ships of great value. He either neg-
" BuBhworth, vol. i. p. 281. " 1 Oar. I. eap.l. Journal, June 21, 1625.
" Franklyn, p. 113. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 190.
11 The plague was really bo violent that it ))ad been moved In the House, at
the beginning of the session, to petition the king to adjourn them. — Journal.
.June 21, 1626. So it was impossible to enter upon grievances, even-if there had
been any. The only business of the Parliament was to give supply, which was
BO much wanted by the king in order to carry on the war In which they had en-
gaged him.
K Eushworlh, vol. i. p. 192. Parliamentary History, vol. vi. p. 407.
128 HISTORY OF ENGLAND,
lected to attack these ships, or attempted it preposterousl)r.
The army was landed and a fort taken ; but the undisci-
plined soldiers, finding store of wine, could not be restrained
from the utmost excesses. Further stay appearing fruitless,
they were re-embarked, and the fleet put to sea with an in-
tention of intercepting the Spanish galleons. But the
plague having seized the seamen and soldiers, they were
obliged to abandon all hopes of this prize and return to
England. Loud complaints were made against the court
for intrusting so imjjortant a command to a man like Cecil,
whom, though he possessed great experience, the people,
judging by the event, esteemed of slender capacity.^*
[1626.] Charles, having failed of so rich a prize, was
obliged again to have recourse to a Parliament. Though
the ill success of his enterprises diminished his authority,
and showed every day more jjlainly the imprudence of the
Spanish war ; though the increase of his necessities rendered
him more dependent, and more exposed to the encroach-
ments of the Commons, he was resolved to try once more
that regular and constitutional expedient for supply. Per-
haps, too, a little political art which at that time he prac-
tised was much trusted to. He had named four popular
leaders sheriffs of counties — Sir Edward Coke, Sir Robert
Philips, Sir Thomas Wentworth, and Sir Francis Seymour ;
and though the question had been formerly much contested,^'
he thought that he had by that means incapacitated them from
being elected members. But his intention being so evident
rather put the Commons more upon their guard. Enow of
patriots still remaincid to keep up the ill-humor of the
House, and men needed but little instruction or rhetoric to
recommend to them practices which increased their own im-
portance and consideration. The weakness of the court,
also, could not more evidently appear than by its being re-
duced to use so ineffectual an expedient in order to obtain
an influence over the Commons.
The views, therefore, of the last Parliament were im-
mediately adopted ; as if the same men had been every-
where elected, and no time had intervened since their meet-
ing. When the king laid before the House his necessities,
and asked for supply, they immediately voted him three
subsidies and three fifteenths ; and though they afterwards
18 Fraiiklyn, p. 113. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 196.
19 It iB always an express clause in the writ of summons that no sherifE shall
be chosen ; but the contrary practice had often prevailed — D'Ewes d 38 Yet
still great doubts were entertained on this head. See Journal, April's 1614
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 129
added one subsidy more, the sum was little proportioned to
the greatness of the occasion, and ill fitted to promote those
views of success and glory for which the young prince, in
his first enterprise, so ardently longed. But this circum-
stance was not the most disagreeable one. The supply was
only voted by the Commons. The passing of that vote into
a law was reserved till the end of the session.^ A con-
dition was thereby made, in a very undisguised manner,
with their sovereign. Under color of redressing grievances
which, during this short reign, could not be very numerous,
they were to proceed in regulating and controlling every
part of government which displeased them ; and if the king
either cut them short in this undertaking, or refused com-
pliance with their demands, he must not expect any supply
from the Commons. Great dissatisfaction was expressed
by Charles at a treatment which he deemed so harsh and
undutiful;^^ but his urgent necessities obliged him to sub-
mit, and he waited with patience, observing to what side
they would turn themselves.
The Duke of Buckingham, formerly obnoxious to the
public, became every day more unpopular, by the symptoms
which appeared both of his want of temper arid prudence
and of tlie uncontrolled ascendant which he had acquired
over his master.^^ Two violent attacks he was obliged this
session to sustain — one from the Earl of Bristol, another
from the House of Commons.
As long as James lived, Bristol, secure of the concealed
favor of that monarch, had expressed all duty and obedience,
in expectation that an opportunity would offer of rein-
statmg himself in his former credit and authority. Even
after Charles's accession, he despaired not. He submitted
to the king's commands of remaining at his country-seat and
of absenting himself from Parliament. Many trials he
made to regain the good opinion of his master ; but, finding
them all fruitless, and observing Charles to be entirely gov-
erned by Buckingham, his implacable enemy, he resolved
no longer to keep any measures with the court. A new
spirit, he saw, and a new power, arising in the nation, and
to these he was determined for the future to trust for his
security and protection.
"> Journal, March 2T, 1626.
21 Parliamentary History, vol. xi. p. 449. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 224.
22 His credit with the king had given him such influence that he had no less
than twenty proxies granted Iiim this Parliament by so many peers, which occa-
sioned a vote that no peer should have above two proxies. The Earl of Leices-
ter, iu 1585, had once ten proxies.— D'Ewes, p. 314.
Vol. IV.— 9
130 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
When the Parliament was summoned, Charles, by a
stretch of prerogative, had given orders that no writ, as is
customary, should be sent to Bristol.^^ That nobleman ap--
plied to the House of Lords by petition, and craved their
good offices with the king for obtaining what was his due as
a peer of the realm. His writ was sent him, but accom-
panied with a letter from the lord keeper, Coventry, com-
manding him, in the king's name, to absent himself from
Parlianient. This letter Bristol conveyed to the Lords, and
asked advice how to proceed in so delicate a situation."
The king's prohibition was withdrawn, and Bristol took his
seat. Provoked at these repeated instances of vigor, which
the court denominated contumacy, Charles ordered his
attorney-general to enter an accusation of high treason
against him. By way of recrimination, Bristol accused
Buckingham of high treason. Both the earl's defence of
himself and accusation of the duke remain ; ^ and, together
with some original letters still extant, contain the fullest and
most authentic account of all the negotiations with the
house of Austria. Prom the whole, the great imprudence
of the duke evidently appears, and the sway of his un-
governable passions ; but it would be difficult to collect
thence any action which, in the eye of the law, could be
deemed a crime, much less could subject him to the penalty
of treason.
The impeachment of the Commons was still less danger-
ous to the duke, were it estimated by the standard of law
and equity. The House, after having voted upon some
queries of Dr. Turner's, that common fame was a sufficient
ground of accusation by the Comm.ons^^ proceeded to frame
regular articles against Buckingham. They accused him of
having united many offices in his person ; of having bought
two of them ; of neglecting to guard the seas, insomuch that
many merchant-ships had fallen into the hands of the
enemy; of delivering ships to the French king in order to
serve against the Huguenots ; of being employed in the sale
of honors and offices ; of accepting extensive grants from
the crown ; of procuring many titles of honor for his kin-
dred ; and of administering physic to the late king without
acquainting his physicians. All these articles appear, from
comparing the accusation and reply, \o be either frivolous
» Eushworth, vol- i. p. 236.
24 Eushworth, vol. i. p. 237. Franklyn, p. 123, elc.
20 Eushworth, vol. i. pp. 256, 262, 263, etc. Frauklyn, p. 122 etc
M Eushworth, vol. i. p. 217. Whitlocke, p. 5. - «- . •
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 131
or false, or both.^ The only charge which could be re-
garded as important was, that he had extorted a sum of ten
thousand pounds from the East India Company, and that he
had confiscated some goods belonging to French merchants,
on pretence of their being the property of Spanish. The
impeachment never came to a full determination, so that it
is difficult for us to give a decisive opinion with regard to
these articles. But it must be confessed that the duke's an-
swer in these particulars, as in all the rest, is so clear and
satisfactory that it is impossible to refuse our assent to it.'^
His faults and blemishes were in many respects very great ;
but rapacity and avarice were vices with which he was en-
tirely unacquainted.
It is remarkable that the Commons, though so much at
a loss to find articles of charge against Buckingham, never
adopted Bristol's accusation, or impeached the duke for his
conduct in the Spanish treaty, the most blamable circum-
stance in his whole life. He had reason to believe the Span-
iards sincere in their professions ; yet, in order to gratify
his private passions, he had hurried his master and his coun-
try into a war pernicious to the interests of both. But so
riveted throughout the nation were the prejudices with re-
gard to Spanish deceit and falsehood that very few of the
Commons seem as yet to have been convinced that they
had been seduced by Buckingham's narrative — a certain
proof that a discovery of this nature was not, as is im-
agined by several historians, the cause of so sudden and
surprising a variation in the measures of the Parliament.^
While the Commons were thus warmly engaged against
Buckingham, the king seemed desirous of embracing every
opportunity by which he could express a contempt and dis-
regard for them. No one was at that time sufliciently sen-
sible of the great weight which the Commons bore in the
balance of the constitution. The history of England had
never hitherto afforded one instance where any great move-
ment or revolution had proceeded from the Lower House.
And as their rank, both considered in a body and as indi-
viduals, was but the second in the kingdom, nothing less
than fatal experience could engage the English princes to
pay a due regard to the inclinations of that formidable as-
sembly.
The Earl of Suffolk, chancellor of the University of Cam-
" Kushworth, vol. i. pp. 306, etc., 375, etc. Journal. March 25, 1626.
28 WMtloeke, p. 7. " See note [M] at the end of the volume.
132 HISTORY OF BNGLASTD.
bridge, dying . about this time, Buckingham, though lying
under ini])eachnient, wns yet, by means of court interest,
chosen in his place. The Commons resented and loudly
complained of this affront ; and, the more to enrage them,
the king himself wrote a letter to the university, extolling
the duke, and giving them thanks for his election.^"
The lord keeper, in the king's name, expressly com-
manded the House not to meddle with his minister and ser-
vant, Buckingham ; and ordered them to finish, in a few
days, the bill which they had begun for the subsidies, and
to make some addition to them, otherwise they must not
expect to sit any longer; ^■' and though these harsh com-
mands were endeavored to be explained and mollified, a
few days after, by a s]ieech of Buckingham's,^^ they failed
not to leave a disagreeable impression behind them.
Besides a more stately style which Charles in general af-
fected to this Parliament than to the last, he went so far,
in a message, as to threaten the Commons that if they did
not furnish him with supplies, he should be obliged to try
new counsels. This language was sufticiently clear; yet,
lest any ambiguity should remain. Sir Dudley Carleton,
vice-chamberlain, took care to explain it. " I pray you con-
sider," said he, " what these new counsels are, or may be.
I fear to declare those that I conceive. In all Christian
kingdoms, you know that parliaments were in use anciently,
by which those kingdoms were governed in a most flourish-
ing manner, until the monarchs began to know their own
strength, and, seeing the turbulent spirit of their parlia-
ments, at length they, by little and little, began to stand on
their prerogatives, and at last overthrew the parliaments
throughout Christendom, except here only with us. Let us
be careful, then, to preserve the king's good o]nnioil of par-
liaments, which bringeth such happiness to this nation, and
makes us envied of all others, while there is this sweetness
between his majesty and the Commons, lest we lose the
repute of a free people by our turbulency in Parliament." ^
These imprudent suggestions rather gave warning than
struck terror. A precai-ious liberty, the Commons thought,
which was to be preserved by unlimited complaisance, was
no liberty at all ; and it was necessary, while yet in their
power, to secure the constitution by such invincible barriers
sn Eiishworth, vol. p. 371. 3i Parliamentary History, vol. vi t> 444
M Parliamentary History, vol. vi. p. 451. Kushworth, vol. i. p. 226 Frank-
lyn, p. 118. ss Rusliwortli, vol. i. p. 359. Wliitlocke p 6
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 133
that no king or minister should ever, for the future, dare to
speak such a language to any Parliament, or even entertain
such a project against them.
Two members of the liouse. Sir Dudley Digges and Sir
John Elliot, who had been employed as managers of the
impeachment against the duke, were thrown into prison.^^
The Commons immediately declared that they would pro-
ceed no further ujson business till they had satisfaction in'
their privileges. Charles alleged as the reason of this
measure certain seditious expressions, which, he said, had,
in their accusation of the duke, dropped from these mem-
bers. Upon inquiry, it appeared that no such expressions
had been used.^^ The members were released, and the king
reaped no other benefit from this attempt than to exasper-
ate the House still further, and to show some degree of pre-
cipitancy and indiscretion.
Moved by this exaniple, the House of Peers were roused
from their inactivity ; and claimed liberty for the Earl of
Arundel, who had been lately confined in the Tower.
After many fruitless evasions, the king, though somewhat
ungracefully, was at last obliged to comply ; ^^ and in this
incident it sufficiently appeared that the Lords, how little
soever inclined to popular courses, were not wanting in a
just sense of their own dignity.
The ill-humor of the Commons, thus wantonly irritated
by the court, and finding no gratification in the legal im-
peachment of Buckingham, sought other objects on which
it might exert itself. The never-failing cry of popery here
served them instead. They again claimod the execution of
the penal laws against Catholics ; and they presented to the
king a list of persons intrusted with ofliices, most of them insig-
nificant, who were either convicted or suspected recusants.^'
In this particular they had, perhaps, some reason to blame
the king's conduct. He had promised to the last House
of Commons a redress of this religious grievance ; but he
was apt, in imitation of his father, to imagine that the Par-
liament, when they failed of supplying his necessities, had,
on their part, freed him from the obligation of a strict per-
formance. A new odium, likewise, by these representa-
tions, was attempted to be thrown upon Buckingham. His
mother, who had great influence over him, was a professed
8* Rushwoith, vol. i. p. 356.
S5 Kushworth, vol. i. pp. 858, 361. Franldyn, p. 180.
36 Rushworth, vol. i. pp. 363, 364, etc. Tranklyn, p. 181.
" Trauklyn, p. 195. Kushworth.
134 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
Catholic ; his wife was not free from suspicion ; and the in-
dulgence given to Catholics was of course, supposed to pro-
ceed entirely from his credit and authority. So violent was
the bigotry of the times that it was thought a sufficient
reason for disqualifying any one from holding an office that
his wife, or relations, or companions were Papists, though
he himself was a conformist.^*
It is remarkable that persecution was here chiefly pushed
on by laymen ; and that the Church was willing to have
granted more liberty than would be allowed by the Com-
mons. The reconciling doctrines likewise of Montague
failed not anew to meet with severe censures from that zeal-
ous assembly .^°
The next attack made by the Commons, had it prevailed,
would have proved decisive. They were preparing a re-
monstrance against the levying of tonnage and poundage
without consent of Parliament. This article, together with
new impositions laid on merchandise by James,' constituted
near half of the crown revenues ; and by depriving the king
of these resources they would have reduced him to total
subjection and dependence. While they retained such a
pledge, besides the supply already promised, they were sure
that nothing could be refused them. Though after canvass-
ing the matter near three months, they found themselves
utterly incapable of fixing any legal crime upon the duke,
they regarded him as an unable and perhaps a dangerous
minister ; and they intended to present a petition, which
would then have been equivalent to a command, for remov-
ing him from his majesty's person and councils.^"
The king was alarmed at the yoke which he saw pre-
pared for him. Buckingham's sole guilt, he thought, was
the being his friend and favorite.^^ All the other complaints
against him were mere pi-etences. A little before he was
th-e idol of the people. No new crime had since been dis-
covered. After the most diligent inquiry, prompted by the
greatest malice, the smallest appearance of guilt could not
be fixed upon him. What idea, he asked, must all mankind
entertain of his honor, should he sacrifice his innocent friend
to pecuniary considerations? What further authority should
he retain in the nation were he capable, in the beo-innin"' of
his reign, to give, in so signal an instance, sneh^mattet- of
triumph to his enemies and discouragement to his adherents?
'• See the list in Franklyn and Rushwortli. so Rushworth vol ) n im
« BusliwortU, vol. i. p. 400. Franklyn, p 199. « Franklyn, p. m.
HISTORY OP ENGLAIfD. 135
To-day the Commons pretend to wrest his minister from
him ; to-morrow they will attack some branch of his prerog-
ative. By their remonstrances and promises and protesta-
tions, they had engaged the crown in a war. As soon as
they saw a retreat impossible, without waiting for new in-
cidents, without covering themselves with new pretences,
they immediately deserted him and refused him all reason-
able supply. It was evident that they desired nothing so
much as to see him plunged in ine.xtricable difficulties, of
which they intendefl to take advantage. To such deep per-
fidy, to such unbounded usurpations, it was necessary to
oppose a proper firmness and resolution. All encroach-
ments on supreme power could only be resisted successfully
oh the first attempt. The sovereign authority was, with
some difficulty, reduced from its ancient and legal height ;
but when once pushed downwards it soon became contempti-
ble, and would easily, by the continuance of the same effort,
now encouraged by success, be carried to the lowest ex-
tremity.
Prompted by these plausible motives, Charles was deter-
mined immediately to dissolve the Parliament, When this
resolution was known, the House of Peers, whose compliant
behavior entitled them to some authority with him, endeav-
ored to interpose ; ^^ and they petitioned him that ho would
allow the Parliament to sit some time longer. " Not a mo-
ment longer," cried the king, hastily ; ^^ and soon after ended
the session by a dissolution.
As this measure was foreseen, the Commons took care
to finish and disperse their remonstrances, which they in-
tended as a justification of their conduct to the people. The
king likewise, on his part, published a declaration, in which
he gave the reasons of his disagreement with the Parliament,
and of their sudden dissolutioh, before they had time to con-
clude any one act.^* These papers furnished the partisans
on both sides with ample matter of apology or of recrimina^
tion. But all impartial men judged " that the Commons,
though they had not as yet violated any law, yet, by their
unpliableness and independence, were insensibly changing,
perhaps improving, the spirit and genius, while they pre-
served the form, of the constitution ; and that the king was
acting altogether without any plan, running on in a road
surrounded on all sides with the most dangerous precipices,
« Rushworth, vol. i. p. 398. " Sanderson's Lite of Charles I. p. 58.
" Fraiiklyn, p. 203, etc. Parliamentary History, vol. vii. p. 300.
136 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
and concerting no proper measures either for submitting to
the obstinacy of the Commons or for subduing it."
After a breach with the Parliament which seemed so dif-
ficult to repair, the only rational counsel which Charles could
pursue was immediately to conclude a peace with Spain,
and to render himself, as far as possible, independent of his
people, who discovered so little inclination to support him,
or, rather, who seemed to have formed a determined resolu-
tion to abridge his authority. Nothing could be more easy
in the execution than this measure, nor more agreeable to
his own and to national interest. But, besides the treaties
and engagements which he had entered into with Holland
and Denmark, the king's thoughts were at this time averse
*o pacific counsels. There are two circumstances in Charles's
character seemingly incompatible, which attended him dur-
ing the whole course of his reign, and were in part the cause
of his misfortunes. He was very steady, and even obstinate,
in his purpose ; and he was easily governed, by reiison of
his facility and of his deference to men much inferior to
himself both in morals and understanding. His great ends
he inflexibly maintained ; but tlie means of attaining tliem
he readily received from his ministers and favoi'ites, tliough
not always fortunate in his choice. The violent, impetuous
Buckingham, inflamed with a desire of revenge for injuries
which he himself had committed, and animated with a love
of glory which he had not talents to merit, had at this time,
notwithstanding his profuse licentious life, acqnii-ed an in-
vincible ascendant over the virtuous and gentle temper of
the king.
The neto counsels which Charles had mentioned to the
Parliament were now to be tried, in order to supply his
necessities. Had he possessed any military force on which
he could rely, it is not improbable that lie had at once taken
off the mask and governed without any regard to parlia-
mentary privileges : so high an idea had he received of
kingly prerogative, and so contemptible a notion of the rights
of those popular assemblies from which he very naturally
thought he had met with such ill usage. But his army v.-as
new levied, ill paid, and worse disciplined ; nowise superior
to the militia, who were much more numerous, and who
were in a great measure under the influence of the country
gentlemen. It behooved him, therefore, to proceed cautious! v,
and to cover his enterprises under the pretence of ancient
precedents, which, considering the great authority com-
HISTOEY OF ENGLAISTD. 137
monly enjoyed by his predecessors, could not be wanting to
himself.
A commission was openly granted to compound with the
Catholics, and agree for dispensing with the penal laws en-
acted against them." By this expedient the king both filled
his coffers and gratified his inclination of giving indulgence
to these religionists ; but he could not have employed any
branch of prerogative which would have been more disagree-
able or would have appeared more exceptionable to his Prot-
estant subjects.
From the nobility he desired assistance. From the city
he required a loan of one hundred thousand pounds. The
former contributed slowly ; but the latter, covering them-
selves under many pretences and excuses, gave him at last
a flat refusal.^^
In order to equip a fleet, a distribution, by order of coun-
cil, was made to all the maritime towns ; and each of them
was required, with the assistance of the adjacent counties,
to arm so many vessels as vvere appointed them." The city
of London was rated at twenty sliips. This is the first ap-
pearance in Charles's reign of ship-money — a taxation which
had once been imposed by Elizabeth, but which afterwards,
when carried some steps further by Charles, created such
violent discontents.
Of some, loans were required ; ^' to others, the way of be-
nevolence was ]iroposed: methods supported by precedent,
but always invidious, even in times more submissive and
com]iliant. In the most absolute govei'nments such expedi-
ents would be regarded as irregulai- and unequal.
Tliese counsels for supply were conducted with some
moderation till news arrived that d great battle was fought
between the King of Denmark and Count Till}^, tlie imperial
general, m which the former was totally defeated. Money
now, more than ever, became necessary, in order to repair
so great a breach in the alliance, and to support a prince
who was so nearly allied to Charles, and who had been en-
gaged in the war, chiefly by the intrigues, solicitations, and
promises of the Englisli monarch. After some deliberation,
an act of council was passed, importing that as the urgency
of affairs admitted not the way of Parliament, the most
speedy, equal, and convenient method of supply was by a
'» Eushworth, vol. i. p. 413. "Wliitlocke, p. 7.
« Rushworth, vol. i. p. 415. Frauklyn, p. 206. « Kuahworth, ut supra.
*8 Xiushwortli, vol. i. p. 416.
138 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
GENERAL LOAN from the subject, according as every man
was assessed in the rolls of the last subsidy. " That precise
sum was required which each would have paid had the vote
of four subsidies passed into law ; but care was taken to in-
form the people that the sums exacted were not to be called
subsidies, but loans.*' Had any doubt remained whether
forced loans, however authorized by precedent, and even by
statute, were a violation of liberty, and must, by necessary
consequence, render all Parliaments superfluous, this was
the proper expedient for opening the eyes of the whole na-
tion. The example of Henry VHI., who had once m his
arbitrary reign practised a like method of levying a regular
supply, was generally deemed a very insufiicient authority.
The commissioners appointed to levy these loans, among
other articles of secret instruction, were enjoined, " If any
shall refuse to lend, and shall make delays or excuses, and
persist in his obstinacy, that they examine him upon oath
whether he has been dealt with to deny or refuse to lend, or
make an excuse for not lending ; who has dealt with him,
and what speeches or persuasions were used to that purpose;
and that they also shall charge every such person, in his
majesty's name, upon his allegiance, not to disclose to any
one what his answer was." * So violent an inquisitorial
power, so impracticable an attempt at secrecy, were the ob-
jects of indignation, and even, in some degree, of ridicule.
That religious prejudices might support civil authority,
sermons were preached by Sibthorpe and Manwaring in
favor of the general loan, and the court industriously spread
them over the kingdom. Passive obedience was there rec-
ommended in its full extent, the whole authority of the
state was represented as belonging to the king alone, and all
limitations of law and a constitution were rejected as sedi-
tious and impious." So openly was this doctrine espoused
by the court that Archbishop Abbot, a popular and virtu-
ous prelate, was, because he refused to license Sibthorpe's
sermon, suspended from the exercise of his office, banished
from London, and confined to one of his country-seats.^^
Abbot's principles of liberty and his opposition to Bucking-
ham had always rendered him very ungracious at court, and
had acquired him the character of a Puritan. For it is re-
markable that this party made the privileges of the nation,
" Eushworth, toI. i. p. 418. Whitlocke, p. 8.
M Rushworth, vol. i. p. 419. Fraiiklyii, p. 207.
" Eushwoith, vol. i, p. 422. Frauklyn, p. 208.
52 lluBhworth, vol. i. p. 431.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 139
as much a part of their religion as the Church party did the
prerogatives of the crown ; and nothing tended further to
recommend among the people, who always take opinions in
the lump, the whole system and all the principles of the
former sect. The king soon found by fatal experience that
this engine of religion which with so little necessity was in-
troduced into politics, falling under more foi-tunate man-
agement, was played with the most terrible success against
him.
While the king, instigated by anger and necessity, thus
employed the whole extent of his prerogative, the spirit of
the people was far from being subdued. Throughout Eng-
land many refused these loans. Some were even active in
encouraging their neighbors to insist upon their common
rights and privileges. By warrant of the council these
were thrown into prison.''^ Most of them with patience
submitted to confinement, or applied by petition to the
king, who commonly released them. Five gentlemen alone
— Sir Thomas Darnel, Sir John Corbet, Sir Walter Earl,
Sir John Heveningham, and Sir Edmond Hambden — had
spirit enough, at their own hazard and expense, to defend
the public liberties, and to demand releasement, not as a
favor from the court, but as their due by the laws of their
country.^ No particular cause was assigned of tlieir com-
mitment. The special command alone of the king and
council was pleaded ; and it was asserted that, by law, this
was not sufficient reason for refusing bail or releasement to
"the prisoners.
This question was brought to a solemn trial before the
King's Bench ; and the whole kingdom was attentive to the
issue of a cause which was of much greater consequence
than the event of many battles.
By the debates on this subject it appeared, beyond con-
troversy, to the nation that their ancestors had been so
jealous of personal liberty as to secure it against arbitrary
power in the crown by six several statutes,^^ and by an
article °^ of the gkeat chaetee itself, the most sacred
foundation of the laws and constitution. But the Kings of
England who had not been able to prevent the enacting of
these laws had sufficient authority, when the tide of liberty
was spent, to obstruct their regular execution ; and they
53 Rushworth, vol. i. p. 429. Fianklyn, p. 210.
" EuBliworth, vol. 1. p. 458. Franklyii, p. 224. Whitlocke, p. 8.
65 25 Edw. III. cap. 4. 28 Edw. III. cap. 3. 37 Edw. III. cap. 18. 38 Edw.
III. cap. 9. 42 Edw. III. cap. 3. 1 Eich. II. cap. 12. »« Ch. xxix.
140 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
deemerl it superfluous to attempt the formnl reiieal of statutes
which they found so many expedients and pretences to ehide.
Turbulent and seditious times frequently occurred when the
safety of the people absolutely required the confinement of
factious leaders ; and by the genius of tlie whole constitu-
tion, the prince, of himself, was accustomed to assume every
branch of prerogative whicli was found necessary for tho
preservation of public peace and of his own authority. Ex-
pediency of other times would cover itself under the ap-
pearance of necessity ; and, in proportion as precedents
multiply, tho will alone of the sovereign was sufficient to
supply the ])liioe of expediency, of wnich he oonstituted Jiira-
self the sole judge. In an age and nation where the power
of a turbulent nobility prevailed, and whe'-e the king had
no settled military force, the only means that could main-
tain public peace was the exertion of such prompt and dis-
cretionary powers in the crown ; and the public itself had
become no sensible of the necessity that those ancient laws
in favor of personal liberty, while often viol.-ited, had never
been challenged or revived during the course of near three
centuries. Though rebellious subjects had frequently in the
open field resisted the king's authority, no person bad been
found so bold when confined and at mercy as to set himself
in opposition to regal power, and to claim the protection
of the constitution against the will of the sovereign. It was
not till this age — when the spirit of iioerty was universally
diffused ; when the principles of government were nearly
reduced to a system ; when the tempers of men, more civil-
ized, seemed less to require those violent exertions of pre-
rogative— that these five gentlemen above mentioned, by a
noble effort, ventured, in this national cause, to brino- the
question to a final determination. And the king was aston-
ished to observe that a power exercised by his predecessors,
almost without interru])tion, was found upon trial to be
directly opposite to the clearest laws, and sujiported by few
undoubted precedents in courts of judicature. These had
scarcely, in any instance, refused b.ail upon commitments by
8]ieuial command of the king, because the ]iersons committed
had seldom or never dared to demand it, at least to insist
on their demand.
[16:27.] Sir Randolf Crow, chief-justice, had been dis-
placed as unfit for the pur])oses of the court. Sir Nicholas
Hyde, esteemed more obsequious, had obtained that hit^h
office ; yet the judges by his direction went no further than
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 141
to remand the gentlemen to prison and refuse the bail
which was offered." lioathe, the attorney-general, insisted
that the court, in imitation of the judges in the thirty-fourth
of Elizabeth,^* should enter a general judgment that no bail
could be granted upon a commitment by the king or
council.^' But the judges wisely declined complying. The
nation, they saw, was already to the last degree exasperated.
In the present disposition of man's minds, universal com-
plaints prevailed as if the kingdom were reduced to slavery.
And the most invidious prerogative of the crown, it was
said, that of imprisoning the subject, is here openly and
solemnly, and in numerous instances, exercised for the most
invidious pui-pose — in order to extort loans, or, rather, sub-
sidies, without consent of Parliament.
But this was not the only hardship of which the nation
then thought they had reason to complain. The army,
which had made the fruitless expedition to Cadiz, was dis-
persed throughout the kingdom, and money was levied upon
the counties for the payment of their quarters.™
The soldiers were billeted upon private houses, contrary
to custom, which required that in all ordinary cases they
should be quartered in inns and public-houses.^^
Those who had refused or delayed the loan were sure to
be loaded with a great number of these dangerous and dis-
orderly guests.
Many, too, of low condition, who had shown a refrac-
tory disposition, were pressed into the service and enlisted
in the fleet or rirmy."'' Sir Peter Hayman, for the same
reason, was despatched on an errand to the Palatinate.*^
Glanville, an eminent lawyer, had been obliged during the
former interval of Parliament to accept of an office in the
navy.^*
The soldiers, ill-paid and undisciplined, committed many
crimes and outrages, and much increased the public discon-
tents. To prevent these disorders, martial law, so requisite
to the support of discipline, was exercised upon the soldiers.
By a contradiction, which is natural when the people are
exasperated, the outrages of the army were complained of.
The remedy was thought still more intolerable.'^'^ Though
' K Eushworth, vol. i. p. 462. "« State Trials, Tol. vii. p. 14T.
6» State Trials, vol. vii. p. 161.
«» Eushworth, vol. i. p. 419. " Ibid. " Eushworth, vol. i. p. 423.
«3 Eushworth, vol. 1. p. 431. " Parliamentary Histoiy, vol. vii. p. 310.
^ Eushworth, vol. i. p. 419- Whitlooke, p. 7.
142 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
the expediency, if we are not rather to say the necessity,
of martial law had formerly been deemed, of itself, a suffi-
cient ground for establishing it, men, now become more
jealous of liberty and more relined reasoners in questions of
government, regarded as illegal and arbitrary every exercise
of authority which was not supported by express statute or
uninterrupted precedent.
It may safely be affirmed that, except a few courtiers or
ecclesiastics, all men were displeased with this high exertion
of prerogative and this new spirit of administration.
Though ancient precedents were pleaded in favor of the
king's measures, a considerable difference, upon comparison,
was observed between the cases. Acts of power, however
irregular, might casually and at intervals be exercised by a
prince for the sake of despatch or expediency, and yet lib-
erty still subsist in some tolerable degree under his admin-
istration. But where all these were reduced into a system
— were exerted without interruption, were studiously sought
for in order to supply the place of laws and subdue the re-
fractory spirit of the nation — it was necessary to find some
speedy remedy, or finally to abandon all hopes of preserv-
ing the freedom of the constitution. Nor did moderate men
esteem the provocation which the king had received, though
great, sufficient to warrant all these violent measures. The
Commons as yet had nowise invaded his authority ; they
had only exercised, as best pleased them, their own privi-
leges. Was he justifiable, because from one House of Par-
liament he had met with harsh and unkind treatment, to
make in revenge an invasion on the rights and liberties of
the whole nation ?
But great was at this time the surprise of all men when
Charles, baffled in every attempt against the Austrian do-
minions, embroiled with his own subjects, unsupplied with
any treasure but what he extorted by the most invidious
and most dangerous measures — ^.s if the half of Europe, now
his enemy, were not sufficient for the exercise of military
prowess — wantonly attacked France, the other great king-
dom in his neighborhood, and engaged at once in war
against these two powers, whose interests were hitherto
deemed so incompatible that they could never, it was
thought, agree either in the same friendships or enmities. All
authentic memoirs, both foreign and domestic, ascribe to
Buckingham's counsels this war with France, and represent
him as actuated by motives which would appear incredible
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 143
were we not acquainted with the violence and temerity of
his character.
The three great monarchies of Europe were at this time
ruled by young princes — Philip, Louis, and Charles — who
were nearly of the same age, and who had resigned the gov-
ernment of themselves and of their kingdoms to their crea-
tures and ministers, Olivarez, Richelieu, and Buckingham.
The people, whom the moderate temper or narrow genius
of their princes would have allowed to remain forever in
tranquillity, were strongly agitated by the emulation and
jealousy of the ministers. Above all, the towering spirit of
Richelieu, incapable of rest, promised an active age, and
gave indications of great revolutions throughout all Eu-
rope.
This man had no sooner, by suppleness and intrigue,
gotten possession of the reigns of government than he formed
at once three mighty projects — to subdue the turbulent
spirits of the great, to reduce the rebellious Huguenots, and
to curb the encroaching power of the house of Austria.
Undaunted and implacable, prudent and active, he braved
all tlie opposition of the French princes and nobles in the
prosecution of his vengeance. He discovered and dissi-
pated all their secret cabals and conspiracies. His sover-
eign himself he held in subjection, while he exalted the
throne. The people, while they lost their liberties, acquired,
by means of his administration, learning, order, discipline,
and renown. That confused and inaccurate genius of gov-
ernment, of which France partook in common with other
European kingdoms, he changed into a simple monarchy, at
the very time when the incapacity of Buckingham encour-
raged the free spirit of the Commons to establish in Eng-
land a regular system of liberty.
However unequal the comparison between these minis-
ters, Buckingham had entertained a mighty jealousy agamst
Richelieu — a jealousy not founded on rivalship of power
and politics, but of love and gallantry — where the duke was
as much superior to the cardinal as he was inferior in every
other particular.
At the time when Charles married by proxy the Prin-
cess Henrietta, the Duke of Buckingham had been sent to
France, in order to grace the nuptials and conduct the new
queen into England. The eyes of the French court were
directed by curiosity towards that man who had enjoyed
the unlimited favor of two successive monarchs, and who.
144 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
from a private station, had mounted in the earliest youth to'
the absolute government of three kingdoms. The beauty
of his person, the gracefulness of his air, tlie splendor of his
equipage, liis fine taste in dress, festivals, and carousals, cor-
responded to the prepossessions entertained in his favor.
The affability of his behavior, the gayety of his manners,
the magnificence of his expense, increased still further the
general admiration which was paid him. All business be-
ing already concerted, the time was entirely spent in mirth
and entertainments ; and, during those splendid scenes
among that gay people, the duke found himself in a situa-
tion where he was perfectly qualified to excel.^^ But his
great success at Paris proved as fatal as his former failure
at Madrid. Encouraged by the smiles of the court, he
dared to carry his ambitious addresses to the queen herself ;
and he failed not to make impression on a heart not indis-
posed to the tender passions. That attachment, at least of
the mind, which appears so delicious and is so dangerous,
seoms to have been encouraged by the princess ; and the
duke presumed so far on her good graces that, after his de-
parture, he secretly returned upon some pretence, and, pay-
ing a visit to the queen, was dismissed with a reproof which
savored more of kindness than of anger."'
Information of this correspondence was soon carried to
Richelieu. The vigilance of that minister was here further
roused by jealousy. He, too, either from vanity or poli-
tics, liad ventured to pay liis addresses to the queen. But
a priest past middle age, of a severe character and occupied
in the most extensive plans of ambition or vengeance, was
but an unequal match in that contest for a young courtier
entirely disposed to gayety and gallantry. "The cardinal's
disappointment strongly inclined him to counterwork the
amorous projects of his rival. When the duke was making
preparations for a new embassy to Paris, a message was
sent him from Louis that he must not tliink of such a jour-
ney. In a romantic passion, he swore " that he would see
the queen in spite of all the power of France; " and, from
that moment, he determined to engage Eno-land in a war
with that kingdom."*
He first took advantage of some quarrels excited by the
Queen of England's attendants ; and he persuaded Charles
to dismiss at once all her French servants, contrary to the
Z Clarendon, vol. i. p. 38. 67 Mimoires de Mme. de Motteville.
V Clarendon, toI. i. p. 38. v«v-..i.o.
HISTORY OF EXGLAND. 145
articles of the marriage treaty.^'' He encouraged the Eng-
lish ships-of-vvar and jirivateors to seize vessels belonging to
French merchants ; and these he forthwith condemned as
prizes by a sentence of the court of admiralty. But, find-
ing that all these injuries produced only remonstrances
and embassies, or at most reprisals, on the part of France,
he resolved to second the intrigues of the Duke of Soubise,
and to undertake at once a military expedition against that
kingdom.
Soubise, who, with his brother the Duke of Rohan, was
the leader of the Huguenot faction, was at that time in Lon-
don, and strongly solicited Charles to embrace the protec-
tion of these distressed religionists. He represented that,
after tlie inhabitants of Rochelle had been repressed by the
combined squadrons of England and Holland, after peace
was concluded with the French king, under Charles's media-
tion, the ambitious cardinal was still meditating the destruc-
tion of the Huguenots ; that preparations were silently mak-
ing in every province of France for the suppression of their
religion ; that forts were erected in order to bridle Rochelle,
the most considerable bulwark of the Protestants; that the
reformed in France cast their eyes on Charles as the head of
their faith, and considered him as a prince engaged by inter-
est as well as inclination to support them ; that, so long as
their party subsisted, Charles might rely on their attach-
ment as much as on that of his own subjects ; but if their
liberties were once ravished from them, the power of France,
freed from this impediment, would soon become formidable
to P^ngland and to all the neighboring nations.
Though Charles probably bore but small favor to the
Huguenots, who so much resembled the Puritans in disci-
pline and worship, in religion and politics, he yet allowed
himself to be gained by these arguments, enforced by the
solicitations of Buckingham. A fleet of a hundred sail
and an army of seven thousand men were fitted out for
the invasion of France, and both of them intrusted to the
command of the duke, who was altogether unacquainted
both with land and sea service. The fleet appeared before
Rochelle ; but so ill concerted were Buckingham's measures
that the inhabitants of that city shut their gates, and refused
to admit allies of whose coming they were not previously
informc-d.'" All his military operations showed equal inca^
pacity and inexperience. Instead of attacking Oleron, a fer-
«3 Rushworth, vol. i. pp. 423, 424. "> Eushworth, vol. 1. p. 426.
Vou IV'.— 10
146 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
tile island and defenceless, he bent his course to the isle
of Rhe, which was well garnsoned and fortified. Having
landed his men, though with some loss, he followed not the
blow, but allowed Toiras, the French governor, five days'
respite, during which St. Martin was victualled and provided
for a siege.'^ He left behind him the small fort of Prie,
which could at first have made no manner of resistance.
Though resolved to starve St. Martin, he guarded the sea
negligently, and allowed provisions and ammunition to be
thrown into it : despairing to reduce it by famine, he at-
tacked it without having made any breach, and rashly threw
away the lives of the soldiers. Having found that a French
army had stolen over in small divisions and had landed at
Prie, the fort which he had first overlooked, he began to
think of a retreat, but made it so unskilfully that it was
equivalent to a total rout. He was the last of the army that
embarked; and he returned to England, having lost two
thirds of his land forces, totally discredited both as an ad-
miral and a general, and bringing no praise with him. but
the vulgar one of courage and personal bravery.
The Duke of Rohan, who had taken arras as soon as
Buckingham appeared upon the coast, discovered the dan-
gerous spirit of the sect, without being able to do any mis-
chief : the inhabitants of Rochelle, who had at last been in-
duced to join the English, hastened the vengeance of their
master, exhausted their provisions in supplying their allies,
and were threatened with an immediate siege. Such were
the fruits of Buckingham's expedition against France.
n Whitlocke, p. 8. Sir Philip Warwick, p. 25.
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 147
CHAPTER LI.
THIED PAELIAMENT. PETITION OF EIGHT. PEOEOGATION.
DEATH OP BUCKINGHAM. NEW SESSION OF PAELIAMENT.
TONNAGE AND POUNDAGE. AEMINIANISM. DISSOLU-
TION OP THE PARLIAMENT.
Theee was reason to apprehend some disorder or insur-
rection, from the discontents which prevailed among tlie
people in England. [1628.] Their liberties, they believed,
were ravished from them ; illegal taxes extorted ; their com-
merce, which had met with a severe check from the Span-
ish, was totally annihilated by the French war^ those mili-
tary honors transmitted to them from their ancestors had
received a grievous stain by two unsuccessful and ill-con-
ducted expeditions; scarce an illustrious family but mourned,
from the last of them, the loss of a son or brother; greater
calamities were dreaded from the war with these powerful
monarchies, concurring with the internal disorders under
which the nation labored. And these ills were ascribed,
not to the refractory disposition of the two former par-
liaments, to which they were partly owing, but solely to
Charles's obstinacy in adhering to the counsels of Bucking-
ham— a man nowise entitled by his birth, age, services, or
merit to that unlimited confidence reposed in him. To be
sacrificed to the interest, policy, and ambition of the great
is so much the common lot of the people that they may ap-
pear unreasonable who would pretend to complain of it;
but to be the victim of the frivolous gallantry of a favorite,
and of his boyish caprices, seemed the object of peculiar in-
dignation.
In this situation, it may be imagined, the king and the
duke dreaded, above all things, the assembling of a Parlia-
ment ; but so little foresight had they possessed in their enter-
prising schemes that they found themselves under an abso-
lute necessity of embracing that expedient. The money
levied, or rather extorted, under color of prerogative, had
come in very slowly, and had left such ill-humor in the na-
tion that it appeared dangerous to renew the experiment.
148 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
The absolute necessity of supply, it was hoped, would en-
gage the Commons to forget all past injuries ; and, having
experienced the ill effects of former obstinacy, they would
probably assemble with the resolution of making some rea-
sonable compliances. The more to soften them, it was con-
certed, by Sir Robert Cotton's advice,^ that Buckinghinu
should be the first person that proposed in council tlie call-
ing of a new Parliament. Having laid in this stock of
merit, he expected that all his former misdemeanors would
be overlooked and forgiven ; and that, instead of a tyi'ant
and oppressor, he should, be regarded as the first patriot in
the nation.
The views of the popular leaders were much more judi-
cious and profound. When the Commons assembled, they
appeared to be men of the same independent sjiirit with
their predecessors, and possessed of such riches that their
property was computed to surpass three times that of the
House of Peers.'' They were deputed by boroughs and
counties, inflamed, all of them, by the late violations of lib-
erty; many of the members themselves h.ad been cast into
prison, and had suffered by the measures of the court; yet,
notwithstanding these circumstances, which might prompt
them to embrace violent resolutions, they entered upon bus-
iness with perfect temper and decorum. They djnsidered
that the king, disgusted at these popular assemblies, and lit-
tle prepossessed in favor of their privileges, wanted but a
fair pretence for breaking with them, and would seize the
first opportunity offered by any incident, or any undutiful
behavior of the members. He fairly told them in his first
speech that if they should not do their duties in contribut-
ing to the necessities of the state, he must, in discharge of
his conscience, use those other means which God had put
into his hands, in order to save that which the follies of some
particular men may otherwise put in danger "Take not
this for a threatening," added the king, "for I scorn to
threaten any but my equals ; but as an admonition from him
who, by nature and duty, has most care of your preserva-
tion and prosperity." = The lord keeper, by the king's
direction, subjoined, " This way of parliament.ary supplies,
as his majesty told you, he hath chosen, not as the only way,
but as the fittest ; not because he is destitute of others, but
because it is most agreeable to the goodness of his own most
■ FranMyn, p. 230. 2 Sanderson, p. 106. Walker, p. 339.
8 Eusliworlh, vol. i. p. 477. Franltljn, p. 233,
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 149
gracious disposition, and to the desire and weal of his peo-
ple. If this be deferred, necessity and the sword of the ene-
my make way for the others. Remember his majesty's
admonition ; I say, remember it." * From these avowed
maxims, the Commons foresaw that if the least handle were
afforded, the king would immediately dissolve them, and
would thenceforward deem himself justified for violating,
in a manner still more open, all the ancient forms of the con-
stitution. No remedy could then be looked for but from
insurrections and civil war, of which the issue would be ex-
tremely uncertain, and which must, in all events, prove
calamitous to the nation. To correct the late disorders in
the administration required some new laws which would, no
doubt, appear harsh to a prince so enamored of his preroga-
tive ; and it was requisite to temper, by the decency and
moderation of their debates, the rigor which must necessa-
rily attend then" determinations. Nothing can give us a
higher idea of the capacity of those men who now guided
the Commons, and of the great authority which they had
acquired, than the forming and executing of so judicious and
so difficult a plan of operations.
The decency, however, which the popular leaders had
prescribed to themselves and recommended to others
hmdered them not from making the loudest and most vig-
orous complaints against the grievances under which the
nation had lately labored. Sir Francis Seymour said, " This
IS the great council of the kingdom, and here with certainty,
if not here only, his majesty may see, as in a true glass, the
state of the kingdom. We are called hitlier by his writs, in
order to give him faithful counsel, such as may stand with
his honor ; and this we must do without ilattery. We are
also sent hither by the people in order to deliver their just
grievances ; and tiiis we must do without fear. Let us not
act like Cambyses' judges, who, when their approbation was
demanded, by the prince to some illegal measure, said that,
tliough there was a written law, the Pei-sian kings might
follow their own will and pleasure. This was base flattery,
fitter for our reproof than our imitation ; and as fear, so
flattery taketh away the judgment. For my part, I shall
shun both, and speak my mind with as much duty as any
nian to his majesty, without neglecting the public.
" But how can we express our affections while we retain
our fears ; or speak of giving till we know whether we have
* ItuBliirortli, Tol. i. p. 479. Franklyn, p. 234.
150 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
anything to give? For if his majesty may oe persuaded to
take what he will, what need we give ?
" That this hath been done, appeareth by the billeting
of soldiers, a thing nowise advantageous to the king's service
and a burden to the commonwealth ; by the imprisonment
of gentlemen for refusing the loan, who, if they had done
the contrary for fear, had been as blamable as the projectors
of that oppressive measure. To countenance these proceed-
ings, hath it not been preached in the pulpit, or rather
prated, that ' all we have is the king's by divine right?'
But when preachers forsake their own calling and turn
ignorant statesmen, we see how willing they are to exchange
a good conscience for a bishopric.
" He, I must confess, is no good subject who would not
willingly and cheerfully lay down his life, when that sacri-
fice may promote the interests of his sovereign and the good
of the commonwealth. But he is not a good subject, lie is
a slave, who will allow his goods to be taken from him
against his will, and his liberty against the laws of the king-
dom. By opposing these practices, we shall but tread in
the steps of our forefathers, who still preferred the public
before their private interest, na}', before their very lives. It
will in us be a wrong done to ourselves, to our posterities, to
our consciences, if we forego this claim and pretension." *
" I read of a custom," said Sir Robert Philips, " among
the old Romans, that, once every year, they held a solemn
festival in which their slaves had liberty, without exception,
to speak what they pleased, in order to ease their afflicted
minds ; and, on the conclusion of the festival, the slaves
severally returned to their former servitudes.
" This institution may, with some distinction, well set
forth our present state and condition. After the revolution
of somo time, and the grievous sufferance of many violent
oppressions, we have now, at last, as those slaves, obtained,
for a day, some liberty of speech ; but shall not, I trust, be
hereafter slaves, for we are born free. Yet what new illegal
burdens our estates and persons have groaned under, my
heart yearns to think of, my tongue falters to utter.
" The grievances by which we are oppressed I draw
under two heads — acts of power against law, and the judg-
ments of lawyers against our liberty."
Having mentioned three illegal judgments passed within
his memory— that by which tlie Scots born after James's
" Fiaiiklyn, p. 213. Kushwortb, vol. i. p. 409.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 151
accession were admitted to all the privileges of English sub-
jects, that by which the new impositions had been warranted,
and the late one by which arbitrary imprisonments were
authorized — he thus proceeded :
" I can live, though another who has no right be put to
live along with me ; nay, I can live, though burdened with
impositions beyond what at present I labor under; but to
have my liberty, which is the soul of my life, ravished frdm
me ; to have my person pent up in a jail, without relief by
law, and to be so adjudged — O improvident ancestors ! O
unwise forefathers ! to be so curious in providing for the
quiet possession of our lands and the liberties of Parliament ;
and, at the same time, to neglect our personal liberty, and
let us lie in prison, and that during pleasure, without redress
or remedy ! If this be law, why do we talk of liberties ?
Why trouble ourselves with disputes about a constitution,
franchises, projjerty of goods, and the like ? What may any
man call his own, if not the liberty of his person ?
" I am weary of treading these ways, and therefore con-
clude to have a select committee, in order to frame a peti-
tion to his majesty for redress of these grievances. And
this petition, being read, examined, and approved, may be
delivered to the king, of whose gracious answer we have no
cause to doubt, our desires being so reasonable, our inten-
tions so loyal, and the manner so dutiful. Neither need we
fear that this is the critical Parliament, as has been insin-
uated ; or that this is the way to distraction ; but assure
ourselves of a happy issue. Then shall the king, as he calls
us his great council, find us his true council, and own us
his good council." ^
The same topics were enforced by Sir Thomas Went-
worth. After mentioning projectors and ill ministers of
state, " These," said he, " have introduced a privy council,
ravishing at once the spheres of all ancient government,
destroying all liberty, imprisoning us without bail or bond.
They have taken from us — what shall I say? Indeed, what
have they left us ? By tearing up the roots of all property,
they have taken from us every means of supplying the king,
and of ingratiating ourselves by voluntary proofs of our
duty and attachment towards him.
" To the making whole all these breaches I shall apply
myself ; and to all these diseases shall propound a remedy.
« Franklyn, p. 245. Parliamentary History, vol. vii. p. 363. Eusbwortb vol.
1. p. 502,
152 I-IISTOET OF ENGLAND.
By one and the same thing have the king and the people
been hurt, and by the same must they be cured. We must
vindicate — what? new things V No ; our ancient, legal, and
vital liberties — by reinforcing the laws enacted by our
ancestors ; by setting such a stamp upon them that no
licentious spirit shall dare henceforth to invade them. And
shall we think this a way to break a Parliament ? No ; our
desires are modest and just. I speak both for the interest
of king and people. If we enjoy not these rights, it will be
impossible for us to relieve him. Let us never, therefore,
doubt of a favorable reception from his goodness." '
These sentiments were unanimously embraced by the
whole House. Even the court party pretended not to plead
in defence of the late measures anything but the necessity
to which the king had been reduced by tiie obstinacy of the
two former parHaraents. A vote, tlierefore, was passed,
without opposition, against arbitrary imprisonments and
forced loans.* And the spirit of liberty having obtained
some contentment by this e.xertion, the reiterated messages
of the king, who pressed for supply, were attended to with
more temper. Five subsidies were voted him, with which,
though much inferior to his wants, he declared himself well
satisfied ; and even tears of affection started in his eye when
he was informed of this concession. The duke's approbation
too was mentioned by Secretary Coke; but the conjunction
of a subject with the sovereign was ill received by the
House.' Though disgusted with the king, the jealousy
which they felt for his honor was more sensible than that
which his unbounded confidence in the duke would allow
even himself to entertain.
The supply, though voted, was not, as yet, passed into
a law ; and the Commons resolved to employ tlie interval in
providing some barriers to their rights ami liberties solaiely
violated. They knew that their own vote, declaring the
illegality of the former measui-es, had not, of itself, sufficient
authority to secure the constitution against future invasion.
Some act to that purpose must receive the sanction of the
whole legislature; and they appointed a committee to pre-
pare a model of so important a law. By collecting into one
effort all the dangerous and oppressive claims of his pre-
rogative, Charles had exposed them to the hazard of one as-
' Fraiililyii, p. 243. Rushworth. vol. i. p. 500.
8 Franklyu, p. 251. Bushwoi-tli, vol. i. p. 513. Whitlocke, p. 9.
• KuBhwortli, vol. i. p. 62G. Whitlocko, p. 9.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 153
sault ; and had further, by presenting a nearer view of the con-
sequences attending them, roused the independent genius of
the Commons. Forced loans, benevolences, taxes witliout
consent of Parliament, arbitrary imprisonments, the billet-
ing of soldiers, martial law — these were the grievances com-
plained of, and against these an eternal remedy was to be
provided. The Commons pretended not, as they affirmed,
to any unusual powers or privileges; they aimed only at
securing those which had been transmitted from their an-
cestors ; and their law they resolved to call a petition of
EIGHT ; as implying that it contained a corroboration or
explanation of the ancient constitution, not any infringe-
ment of royal prerogative, or acquisition of new liberties.
While the committee was employed in framing the Peti-
tion of Right, the favorers of each party, both in Parliament
and throughout the nation, were engaged in disputes about
this bill, which, in all likelihood, was to form a memorable
era in the English government.
That- the statutes, said the partisans of the Commons,
■which secure English liberty are not become obslete ap-
pears hence, that the English have ever been free, and have
ever been governed by law and a limited constitution.
■ Privileges in particular, which are founded on the geeat
CHARTEB must always remain in force, because derived from
a source of never-failing authority, regarded in all ages as
the most sacred contract between king and people. Such
attention was paid to this charter by our generous ancestors
that they got the confirmation of it reiterated thirty several
times ; and even secured it by a rule, which, though vul-
garly received, seems in the execution impracticable. They
have established it as a maxim, that even a statute which
should be enacted in contradiction to any article of that
cliarter cannot have force or validity. But with regard to
that important article which secures personal liberty, so far
from attempting, at any time, any illegal infringement of it,
they have corroborated it by six statutes, and put it out of
all doubt and controversy. If in practice it has often been
violated, abuses can never come in the place of rules ; nor
can any rights or legal powers be derived from injury and
injustice. But the title of the subject to personal liberty
not only is founded on ancient, and therefcn-e the most sacred
laws, it is confirmed by the whole analogy of tlie govern-
ment and constitution. A free monarchy in which every
individual is a slave is a glaring contradiction ; and it is
154 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
requisite, where the laws assign privileges to the different
orders of the state, that it likewise secure the independence
of the members. If any difference could be made in this
particular, it were better to abandon even life or property
to the arbitrary will of the prince ; nor would such immedi-
ate danger ensue, from that concession, to the laws and to
the privileges of the people. To bereave of his life a man
not condemned by any legal trial is so egregious an exercise
of tyranny that it must at once shock the natural humanity
of princes, and convey an alarm throughout the whole com-
monwealth. To confiscate a man's fortune, besides its
being a most atrocious act of violence, exposes the monarch
so much to the imputation of avarice and rapacity that it
will seldom be attempted in any civilized government.
But confinement, though a less striking, is no less severe a
punishment ; nor is there any spirit so erect and indepen-
dent as not to be broken by the long continuance of the silent
and inglorious sufferings of a jail. The power of imprison-
ment, therefore, being the most natural and potent engine
of arbitrary government, it is absolutely necessary to re-
move it from a government which is free and legal.
The partisans of the court reasoned after a different
manner. The true rule of government, said they, during
any period, is that to which the people, from time immemorial,
have been accustomed and to which they naturally pay a
prompt obedience. A practice which has ever struck their
senses, and of which they have seen and heard innumerable
precedents, has an authority with them much superior to
that which attends maxims derived from antiquated statutes
and mouldy records. In vain do the lawyers establish it as
a principle that a statute can never be abrogated by opposite
custom, but requires to be expressly repealed by a contrary
statute ; while they pretend to inculcate an axiom peculiar
to English jurisprudence, they violate the most established
principles of human nature ; and even, by necessary conse-
quence, reason in contradiction to law itself, which they
would represent as so sacred and inviolable. A law, to
have any authority, must be derived from a legislature which
has right. And whence do all legislatures derive their
right but from long custom and established practice? If a
statute contrary to public good has at any time been rashly
voted and assented to, either from the violence of faction or
the inexperience of senates and princes, it cannot be more
effectually abrogated than by a train of contrary precedents
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 155
which prove that, by common consent, it has tacitly been
set aside as inconvenient and impracticable. Such has been
the case with all those statutes enacted during turbulent
times in order to limit royal prerogative and cramp the sov-
ereign in his protection of the public and his execution of
the laws. But above all branches of prerogative, that which
is most necessary to be preserved is the power of imprison-
ment. Faction and discontent, like diseases, frequently
arise in every political body ; and during these disorders, it
is by the salutary exercise alone of this discretionary power
that rebellions and civil wars can be prevented. To circum-
scribe this power is to destroy its nature, entirely to abrogate
it is impracticable, and the attem})t itself must prove dan-
gerous, if not pernicious, to the public. The supreme mag-
istrate, in critical and turbulent times, will never, agreeably
either to prudence or duty, allow the state to perish while
there remains a remedy which, how irregular soever, it is
still in his power to apply. And if, moved by a regard to
public good, he employs any exercise of power condemned
by recent and express statute, how greedily, in such danger-
ous times, will factious leaders seize this pretence of throw-
ing on his government the imputation of tyranny and des-
potism? Were thealtei-native quite necessary, it were surely
much better for human society to be deprived of liberty than
to be destitute of government.
Impartial reasoners will confess that this subject is not,
on both sides, without its difficulties. Where a general and
rigid law is enacted against arbitrary imprisonment, it would
appear that government cannot, in times of sedition and
faction, be conducted but by temporary suspensions of the
law ; and such an expedient was never thought of during the
age of Charles. The meetings of Parliament were too precari-
ous, and their determinations might be too dilatory, to serve
in cases of urgent necessity. Nor was it then conceived that
the king did not possess of himself sufficient power for the
security and jirotection of his people, or that the authority
of these popular assemblies was ever to become so absolute
that the prince must alwaysconform himself to it, and could
never have any occasion to guard against their practices as
well as against those of his other subjects.
Though the House of Lords was not insensible to the
reasons urged in favor of the pretensions of the Commons,
they deemed the arguments pleaded in favor of the crown
still more cogent and convincing. That assembly seems,
156 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
daring this whole period, to have acted, in the main, a rea-
sonable and a moderate part; and if their bias inclined a
little too much, as is natural, to the side of monarchy, they
were far from entertaining any design of sacrificing to arbi-
trary will the liberties and privileges of the nation. Ashley,
the king's sergeant, having asserted, in a pleading before the
Peers, that the king must sometimes govern by acts of state
as well as by law, this position gave such offence that he
was immediately committed to prison, and was not released
but upon his recantation and sulnuission.^" Being, however,
afraid lest the Commons should go too far in their projected
petition, the Peers proposed a plan of one more moderate,
which they recommentrled to the consideration of the other
House. It consisted merely in a general declaration that
the great charter, and the six statutes conceived to be ex-
planations of it, stand still in force, to all intents and pur-
poses ; that, in consequence of the charter and tlie statutes,
and by the tenor of the ancient customs and laws of the
realm, every subject has a fundamental property in his
goods and a fundamental liberty of his person ; that
this property and liberty are as entire at present as during
any former period of the English government ; that in all
common cases the common law ought to be the standard of
proceedings ; " and in case that, for the security of liis maj-
esty's person, the general safety of his people, or the peace-
able government of tlie kingdom, the king shall find just
cause, for reasons of state, to imprison or restrain any man's
person, he was petitioned graciously to declare that, witiiin
a convenient time, he shall and will ex]iress the cause of the
commitment or restraint, either general or special, and, upon
a cause so expressed, will leave the prisoner immediately to
be tried according to the common law of the land." "
Archbishop Abbot was employed by the Lords to recom-
mend, in a conference, this plan of a petition to the House
of Commons._ Tlie prelate, as was, no doubt, foreseen from
his known princijiles, was not extremely urgent in his appli-
cations ; and the Lower House was fully convinced that the
general declarations signified nothing,'but that the latter
clause left their liberties rather in a worse condition than
before. They proceeded, therefore, with great zeal in fram-
ing the model of a petition which should contain expressions
more precise and more favorable to public freedom.
The king could easily see the consequence of these pro-
« Whitlocke, p. 10. " State Trials, vol. vli. p. 187. Eu8liwoith, vol. i. p. 516.
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 157
ceedings. Though he had offerorl at the beginning of the
session to give his consent to any law for the security of the
rights and liberties of the yieople, lie had not expected that
such inroads would be made on his prerogative. In order,
therefore, to divert the Commons from their intention, he
sent a message, wherein he acknowledged past eriors and
promised that hereafter there should be no just cause of
comjilaint; and he added " that the affairs of the kingdom
press him so that he could not continue the session ahoxe a
week or two longer; and if the House be not ready by that
time to do what is fit for themselves, it shall be their own
fault." '^ Oil a subsequent occasion he asked tiiem, " Why
demand ex]ilanations, if you doubt not the performance of
the statutes according to their true meaning? Explanations
will hazard an encroachment upon the prerogative ; audit
may well be said, What need a new law to confirm an old,
if you repose confidence in the declarations which his maj-
esty made to both Houses ? " " The truth is, the great
charter and the old statutes were sufficiently clear in favor
of personal liberty; but as all kings of England liad ever, in
cases of necessity or expediency, been accustomed at inter-
vals to elude them, and as Charles, in a coni]ilication of
instances, had lately violated tliem, the C- mmons judged it
requisite to enact a new law, wliich miglit not be eluded or
violated by any. interpretation, construction, or contrary
precedent. Nor was it sufficient, they thouglit, that tlie
king promised to return into the way of liis predecessors.
His predecessors in all times had enjoyed too much discre-
tionary power; and by his recent abuse of it, the whole
world had reason to see the necessity of entirely retrenching
it.
The king still persevered in his endeavors to elude the pe-
tition. He sent a letter to the House of Lords, in wliich he
went so far as to make a particular declaration "that neitlier
he nor his privy council shall or will, at any time hereafter,
commit or command to prison, or otherwise restrain, any
man for not lending money, or for any other cause wliich in
his conscience he thought not to concern the public good
and the safety of king and peo]ile." And he further declared
"that he never would be guilty of so base an action as to
pretend any cause of whose truth he was not fully satisfied." "
12 state Trial^s, vol. vii. p. 193.
13 State Trials, vol. vii. p. 106. Rushworth, vol. i. p. 5."6.
" State Ti'ials, vol. vii. p. 198. BuBliwurtli, vol. i. p. 560. Parliamentary His-
tory, vol. viii. p. 111.
158 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
But this promise, though enforced to the Commons by the
recommendation of the Upper House, made no more im-
pression than all the former messages.
Among the other evasions of the king, we may reckon
the proposal of the House of Peers to subjoin to the intended
Petition of Right the following clause : " We humbly pre-
sent this petition to your majesty, not only with a care of
preserving our own liberties, but with due regard to leave
entire that sovereign power with which your majesty is in-
trusted for the protection, safety, and happiness of your
people." " Less penetration than was possessed by the leaders
of the House of Commons could easily discover how captious
this clause was, and how much it was calculated to elude the
whole force of the petition.
These obstacles, therefore, being surmounted, the Peti-
tion of Right passed the Commons and was sent to the
Upper House." The Peers, who were probably well pleased
in secret that all their solicitations had been eluded by the
Commons, quickly passed the petition without any material
alteration, and nothing but the royal assent was wanting to
give it the force of a law. The king accordingly came to
the House of Peers, sent for the Commons, and, being seated
in his chair of state, the petition was read to him. Great
was now the astonishment of all men, when, instead of the
usual concise and clear form by which a bill is either con-
firmed or rejected, Charles said, in answer to the petition,
" The king willeth that right be done according to the laws
and customs of the realm, and that the statutes be put into
execution that his subjects may have no cause to complain
of any wrong or oppression contrary to their just rights and
liberties, to the preservation whereof he holds himself in
conscience as much obliged as of his own prerogative." "
It is surprising that Charles, who had seen so many in-
stances of the jealousy of the Commons, who had himself so
much roused that jealousy by his frequent evasive messages
during this session, could imagine that they would rest sat-
isfied with an answer so vague and undeterminate. It was
evident that the unusual form alone of the answer must ex-
cite their attention ; that the disappointment must inflame
their anger ; and that therefore it was necessary, as the
petition seemed to bear hard on royal prerogative, to come
16 state Trials, vol. vii. p. 199. Eushworth, vol. i. p. B61. Parliamentary His-
tory, vol. viii. p. 116. Whitloclse, p. 10.
^^ See note [N] at the end of the volume.
" State Trials, vol. vii. p. 212. fiushworth, vol. i. p. 590.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 159
early to some fixed resolution — either gracefully to comply
with it or courageously to reject it.
It hap])ened as might have been foreseen. The Commons
returned in very ill humor. Usually, when in that disposi-
tion, their zeal for religion and their enmity against the
unfortunate Catholics ran extremely high. But they had
already, in the beginning of the session, presented their
petition of religion, and had received a satisfactory answer,
though they expected that the execution of the laws against
Papists would for the future be no more exact and rigid than
they had hitherto found it. To give vent to their present
indignation, they fell with their utmost force on Dr. Man-
waring.
There is nothing which tends more to excuse — if not
justify — the extreme rigor of the Commons towards Charles
than his open encouragement and avowal of such general
principles as were altogether incompatible with a limited
government. Manwaring had preached a sermon which the
Commons found, upon inquiry, to be printed by special com-
mand of the king;^' and when this sermon was looked into,
it contained doctrines subversive of all civil liberty. It
taught that though property was commonly lodged in the
subject, yet whenever any exigency required supply, all
property was transferred to the sovereign ; that the consent
of Parliament was not necessary for the imposition of taxes ;
and that the divine laws required compliance with every
demand, how irregular soever, which the prince should make
upon his subjects." For these doctrines the Commons im-
peached Manwaring. The sentence pronounced upon him.
by the Peers was that he should be imprisoned during the
pleasure of the House, be fined a thousand pounds to the
king, make submission and acknowledgment of his offence,
be suspended during three years, be incapable of holding
any ecclesiastical dignity or secular office, and that his book
be called in and burned.'"
It may be worthy of notice that no sooner was the session
ended than this man, so justly obnoxious to both Houses,
received a pardon and was promoted to a living of consider-
able value.^^ Some years after, he was raised to the see of
St. Asaph. If the republican spirit of the Commons in-
18 Parliamentary History, vol. viii. p. 206.
•» Rushworth, vol. i. pp. 585, 694. Parliamentary History, vol. viii. pp. 168,
169, 170, etc. Welwood, p. 44.
"> RuBhworth, vol. i. p. 65. Parliamentary History, vol. viii. p. 212,
21 Rushwortli, vol. i. p. 635. Whitlocke, p. 11.
160 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
ci-eni=ed, beyond all reasonable bounds, the monarchiial
si)irit of the court, this latter, carried to so high a jiitch,
tended still further to augment the former; and tlius
extremes were everywhere affected, and the just medium
was gradually deserted by all men.
From Manwaring the House of Commons proceeded to
censure the conduct of Buckingham, whose name hitherto
they had cautiously forborne to mention.-'^ In vain did the
king send them a message in which he told them that tiie
session was drawing near to a conclusion, and desired that
they would not enter u])on new business, nor cast any asper-
sions on his government and ministry.^ Though the court
endeavored to explain and soften tliis message by a subse-
quent message^* (as Ciiarles was apt hastily to correct any
hasty step wiiich he had taken), it served rather to inflame
than appease the Commons, as if the method of tlieir pro-
ceeding's had here been ])rescril)ed to tliem. It was foreseen
that a great tempest was ready to burst on the duke, and in
order to divert it the king thought proper, u])on a joint
ajjplication of the Lords and Commons,^^ to endeavor givmg
tliem satisfaction with regard to the Petition of Right. He
came, therefore, to the House of Peers, and, pronouncing
the usual form of words, "Let it be law as is desired," gave
full sanction and authority to the petition. The acclama-
tions with which tlie House resounded, and tlie universal
joy diffused over the nation, showed how much this petition
had been the object of all men's vows and expectations.^'^
It may be affirmed without any exaggeration that the
king's assent to the Petition of Right produced such a
change iu the government as was almost equivalent to a
revolution; and by circumscribing in so many articles the
royal prerogative, gave additional security to the liberties of
the subject. Yet were the Commons far from being satisfied
with this important concession. Their ill-humor had been
so much irritated by the king's frequent evasions and delays
that it could not be presently a])peased by an assent which
he allowed to be so reluctantly extorted from him. Perhaps,
too, the popular leaders, implacable and artful, saw tlie
opportunity favorable, and, turning against the king those
very weapons with which he had "furnished them, resolved
to pursue the victory. The bill, however, for five subsidies,
" Rushworth, vol. i. p. 607. a Eushworth, vol. i. p. 606.
-* Ruslnvortli, vol. i. p. 610. Parliamentary History, vol. viii. p. 197
-" EuGhworth, vol. i. p. 613. Journal, June 7,1628. Parliameiitarv History,
vol. viii. p. 201. 20 Kushworth, vol. i. p. 613
HISTQEY OF ENGLAND. 161
•which had been formerly voted, immediately passed the
Houso, because the gi'anting of that supply was, in a manner,
tacitly contracted for upon the royal assent to the petition ;
and had faith been here violated, no further confidence could
have subsisted between king and Parliament. Having made
this concession, the Commons continued to carry their
scrutiny into every part of government. In some particulars
their industry was laudable, in some it may be liable to
censure.
A little after writs were issued for summoning this Par-
liament, a commission had been granted to Sir Thomas
Coventry, lord keeper ; the Earl of Marlborough, treasurer ;
the Earl of Manchester, president of the council ; the Earl
of Worcester, privy seal ; the Duke of Buckingham, high
admiral ; and all the considerable officers of the crown — in
the whole thirty-three. By this commission, which froip. the
number of persons named in it could be no secret, the com-
missioners were empowered to meet and to concert among
themselves the methods of levying money by impositions or
otherwise — " where form and circumstance," as expressed in
the commission, "must be dispensed with, rather than the
substance be lost or hazarded." ^ In other words, this was
a scheme for finding expedients which might raise the pre-
rogative to the greatest height, and render parliaments
entirely useless. The Commons applied for cancelling the
commission,^' and were, no doubt, desirous that all the world
should conclude the king's principles to be extremely arbi-
trary, and should obsei-ve what little regard he was disposed
to pay to the liberties and privileges of his people.
A commission had likewise been granted, and some
money remitted, in order to raise a thousand German horse,
and transport them into England. These were supposed to
be levied in order to support the pirojected impositions or
excises, though the number seems insufiicient for such a
purpose.^' The House took notice of this design in severe
terms, and no measure, surely, could be projected more
generally odious to the whole nation. It must, however, be
confessed that the king was so far right that he had now,
at last, fallen on the only effectual method for supporting
his prerogative. But, at the same time, he should have
been sensible that, till provided with a sufficient military
force, all his attempts in opposition to the rising spirit of
27 Kushwortli, Tol. i. p. G14. Parliamentary History, vol. viii. p. 214.
2* Journal, June 13. 1U28. '" Eushworth, vol. i. p. 612
Vol. IV.— 11
162 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
the nation must in the end prove wholly fruitless ; and that
the higher he screwed up the springs of government, while
he had so little real power to retain them in that forced situ-
ation, with more fatal violence must they fly out when any
accident occurred to restore them to their natural action.
The Commons next resumed their censure of Bucking-
ham's conduct and behavior, against whom they were im-
placable. They agreed to present a remonstrance to the
king, in whicli they recapitulated all national grievances and
misfortunes, and omitted no circumstance which could
render the whole administration despicable and odious. The
compositions with Catholics, they said, amounted to no less
than a toleration, hateful to God, full of dishonor and dis-
profit to his majesty, and of extreme scandal and grief to
his good people ; they took notice of the violations of liberty
above mentioned, against whie:h the Petition of Right seems
to have provided a sufficient remedy ; they mentioned the
decay of trade, the unsuccessful expeditions to Cadiz and
the isle of Rhe, the encouragement given to Arminians, the
commission for transporting German horse, that for levying
illegal impositions; and all these grievances they ascribed
solely to the ill conduct of the Duke of Buckingham.'" This
remonstrance was, perhaps, not the less provoking to Charles
because, joined to the extreme acrimony of the subject,
there were preserved in it, as in most of the remonstrances
of that age, an affected civility and submission in the lan-
guage. And as it was the first i-eturn which he met with for
his late beneficial concessions, and for his sacrifices of pre-
rogative— the greatest by far ever made by an English
sovereign — nothing could be more the object of just and
natural indignation.
It was not without good grounds that the Commons were
so fierce and assuming. Though they had already granted
the king the supply of five subsidies, they still retained a
pledge in their hands which, they thought, insured them
success in all their applications. Tonnage and poundage
had not yet been granted by Parliament, and the Commons
had artfully, this session, concealed their intention of invad-
ing that branch of the revenue till the royal ascent had been
obtained to the Petition of Right, which they justly deemed
of such importance. They then openly asserted that the
levying of tonnage and poundage without consent of Parliar
ment was a palpable violation of the ancient liberties of the
™ KuBliwortli, vol. i. p. 619. Parliamentary History, vol. viii. pp. 219, 220, etc.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 163
people, and an infringement of the Petition of Right so
lately granted.'^ The king, in order to prevent the finishing
and presenting of this remonstrance, came suddenly to the
Parliament, and ended this session by a prorogation.^^
Being freed for some time from the embarrassment of
this assembly, Charles began to look towards foreign wars,
where all his efforts were equally unsuccessful as in his
domestic government. The Earl of Denbigh, brother-in-law
to Buckingham, was despatched to the relief of Rochelle,
now closely besieged by land and threatened with a block-
ade by sea; but he returned without effecting anything;
and, having declined to attack the enemy's fleet, he brought
on the English arms the imputation either of cowardice or
ill conduct. In order to repair this dishonor, the duke went
to Portsmouth, where he had prepared a considerable fleet
and army, on which all the subsidies given by Parliament
had been expended. This supply had very much disap-
pointed the king's expectations. The same mutinous spirit
which prevailed in the House of Commons had diffused
itself over the nation, and the commissioners appointed for
making the assessments had connived at all frauds which
might diminish the supply and reduce the crown to still
greater necessities. This national discontent, communicated
to a desperate enthusiast, soon broke out in an event which
may be considered as remarkable.
There was one Felton, of a good family, but of an ardent
and melancholic temper, who had served under the duke in
the station of lieutenant. His captain being killed in the
retreat of the isle of Rhe, Felton had applied for the com-
pany, and, when disappointed, he threw up his commission
and retired in discontent from the army. While private
resentment was boiling in his sullen, unsociable mind, he
heard the nation resound with complaints against the duke ;
and he met with the remonstrance of the Commons, in
which his enemy was represented as the cause of every
national grievance, and as the great enemy of tho public.
Religious fanaticism further inflamed these vindictive re-
flections, and he fancied that he should do Heaven accept-
able service if at one blow he despatched this dangerous foe
to religion and to his country.^' Full of these dark views,
he secretly arri^'ed at Portsmouth at the same time with the
duke, and watched for an opportunity of effecting his bloody
purpose.
SI Rushworth, Tol. i. p. 028. Journal, June 18, 29, 1628.
»2 Journal, June 26, 1628. » May's History of the Parliament, p. 10.
164 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
Buckingham had been engnGjed in conversation with
Soubise and other French gentlemen, and a difference of
sentiment having arisen, the dispute, though conducted with
temper and decency, had produced some of those vehement
gesticulations and lively exertions of voice in which that
nation, more than the English, are apt to indulge themselves.
The conversation being finished, the duke drew towards tlie
door ; and in that passage, turning himself to speak to Sir
Thomas Fryar, a colonel in the army, he was on the sudden,
over Sir Thomas's shoulder, struck upon the breast with a
knife. Without uttering other words than, "The villain
has killed me," in the same moment pulling out the knife,
he breathed his last.
No man had seen the blow, nor the person who gave it ;
but in the confusion every one made his own conjecture ;
and all agreed that the murder had been committed by the
French gentlemen, whose angry tone of voice had been
heard, while their words had not been understood by the
bystanders. In the hurry of revenge they had instantly
been put to death, had they not been saved by some of more
temper and judgment, who, though they had the same
opinion of their guilt, thought proper to reserve them for a
judicial trial and examination.
Near the door there was found a hat, in the inside of which
was sewed a paper containing four or five lines of that re-
monstrance of the Commons which declared Buckingham an
enemy to the kingdom ; and under these lines was a short
ejaculation, or attempt towards a prayer. It was easily
concluded that this hat belonged to the assassin ; but the
difficulty still remained, who that person should be. For
the writing discovered not the name ; and whoever he was,
it was natural to believe that he had already fled far enough
not to be found without a hat.
In this hurry, a man without a hat was seen walking very
composedly before the door. One crying out, " Here is the
fellow who killed the duke," evei-ybody ran to ask, " Which
is he?" The man very sedately answered, "I am he."
The more furious immediately rushed upon him with drawn
swords; others, more deliberate, defended and protected
him : he himself, with open arms, calmly and cheerfully
exposed his breast to the swords of the most enraged, beinf
willing to fall a sudden sacrifice to their anger rather than
be reserved for that public justice which, he knew, must be
executed upon him.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 165
He was now known to be that Felton who had served in
the army. Being carried into a private room, it was thought
proper so far to dissemble as to tell him that Buckingham
was only grievously wounded, but not without hopes of
recovery. Felton smiled, and told them that the duke, he
knew full well, had received a blow which had terminated
all their hopes. When asked at whose instigation he had
performed the horrid deed, he rej^lied that they needed not
to trouble themselves in that inquiry ; that no man living had
credit pnough with him to ha\e disposed him to such an
action ; that he had not even intrusted his purpose to any
one ; that the resolution proceeded only from himself, and the
impulse of his own conscience ; and that his motives would
appear if his hat were found, for that, believing he should
perish in the attempt, he had there taken care to explain
them.''*
When the king was informed of this assassination, he re-
ceived the news in public with an unmoved and undisturbed
countenance ; and the courtiers, who studied his looks, con-
cluded that secretly he was not disjileased to be rid of a
minister so generally odious to the nation.^ But Charles's
command of himself jDroceeded entirely from the gravity
and composure of his temper. He was still, as much as
ever, attached to his favorite ; and during his whole life he
retained an affection for Buckingham's friends and a preju-
dice against his enemies. He urged, too, that Felton should
be put to the question, in order to extort from him a dis-
covery of his accomplices; but the judges declared that,
though thnt practice had formerly been very usual, it was
altogether illegal : so much more exact reasoners, with re-
gard to law, had they become, from the jealous scruples of
the House of Commons.
Meanwhile the distress of Roehelle had risen to the
utmost extremity. That vast genius of Richelieu, which
made him form the greatest enterprises, led him to attempt
their execution by means equally great and extraordinary.
In order to deprive Roehelle of all succor, he had dared to
project the throwing across the harbor a mole of a mile's
extent in that boisterous ocean ; and having executed his
project, he now held the town closely blockaded on all sides.
The inhabitants, though pressed with the greatest rigors of
famine, still refused to submit, being supported partly by
the lectures of their zealous j)reachers, partly by the daily
M Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 27, 28. '^ Warwick, p. 34.
166 HISTOBY OF ENGLAND.
hopes of relief from England. After Buckingham's death,
the command of the fleet and army was conferred on the
Earl of Lindese)-, who, arriving before Rochelle, made some
attempts to break through the'rnole and force his way into
the harbor; but, by the delays of the English, that work
was now fully finished and fortified; and the Rochellers,
finding their last hopes to fail them, were reduced to sur-
render at discretion, even in sight of the English admiral.
Of fifteen thousand persons shut up in the city, four thou-
sand alone survived the fatigues and famine which they had
undergone.^^
This was the first necessary step towards the prosperity
of France. Foreign enemies, as well as domestic factions,
being deprived of this resource, that kingdom began now
to shine forth in its full splendor. By a steady prosecution
of wise plans, both of war and policy, it gradually gained
an ascendant over the rival power of Spain ; and every
order of the state, and every sect, was reduced to pay sub-
mission to the lawful authority of the sovereign. The vic-
tory, however, over the Pluguenots was at first pushed by
the French king with great moderation. A toleration was
still continued to them — the only avowed and open toler-
ation which at that time was granted in any European
kingdom.
[1629.] The failure of an enterprise in which the Eng-
lish nation, from religious sympathy, so much interested
themselves, could not but diminish the king's authority dn
the Parliament during the approaching session ; but the
Commons, when assembled, found many other causes of
complaint. Buckingham's conduct and character with
some had afforded a reason, with others a pretence, for dis-
content against public measures ; but after his death there
wanted not new reasons and new pretences for general dis-
satisfaction. Manwaring's pardon and promotion were
taken notice of ; Sibthorpe and Cosins, two clergymen who.
for like reasons, were no less obnoxious to the CommoiiS,
had met with like favor from the king; Montague, who had
been censured for moderation towards the Catholics, the
greatest of crimes, had been created Bishop of Chichester.
They found, likewise, upon inquiry, that all the copies of
the Petition of Right, which were dispersed, had by the
king's orders annexed to them the first answer, which had
s« Eusllworth, vol. i. p. 636.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 167
given so little satisfaction to the Commons ^ — an expedient
by which Charles endeavored to persuade the people that
he had nowise receded from his former claims and preten-
sions, particularly with regard to the levying of tonnage
and poundage. Selden also complained in the House that
one Savage, contrary to the Petition of Right, had been
punished with the loss of his ears by a discretionary or arbi-
trary sentence of the Star-chamber.^' So apt were they, on
their part, to stretch the petition into such consequences as
might deprive the crown of powers which, from immemorial
custom, were supposed inherent in it.
But the great article on which the House of Commons
bi'oke with the king, and which finally created in Charles a
disgust to all parliaments, was their claim with regard to
tonnage and poundage. On this occasion, therefore, it is
necessary to give an account of the controversy.
The duty of tonnage and poundage, in more ancient
times, had been commonly a temporary grant of parlia^
ment ; but it had been conferred on Henry V., and all the
succeeding princes, during life, in order to enable them to
mnintain a naval force for the defence of the kingdom.
The necessity of levying this duty had been so apparent that
each king had ever claimed it from the moment of his ac-
cession ; and the first Parliament of each reign had usually,
by vote, conferred on the prince what they found him al-
ready in possession of. Agreeably to the inaccurate genius
of the old constitution, this abuse, however considerable,
had never been perceived nor remedied, though nothing
could have been easier than for the Parliament to have pre-
vented it.^ By granting this duty to each prince during
his own life, and, for a year after his demise, to the suc-
cessor, all inconveniences had been obviated ; and yet the
duty had never for a moment been levied without proper
authority. But contrivances of that nature were not thought
of during those rude ages; and as so complicated and jer.l-
ous a government as the English cannot subsist without
many such refinements, it is easy to see how favorable
every inaccuracy must formerly have proved to royal au-
thority, which on all emergencies was obliged to supply,
by discretionary power, the great deficiency of the laws.
The Parliament did not grant the duty of t image and
s' state Trials, vol. vii. p. 216. Eushwortli, vol. i. p. 643.
" Slat* Trials, vgl. vii. p. 21(i. Farliameutary History, vol. viii. p. 246.
89 Parliamentary History, vol. viii. pp. 33a, 340.
168 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
poundage to Henry VIII. till the sixth of his reign. Yet
this prince, who had not then raised his power to its great-
est height, continued during that whole time to levy the
imposition. The Parliament, in their very grant, blame the
merchants who had neglected to make payment to the
crown ; and though one expression of that bill may seem
ambiguous, they employ the plainest terms in calling ton-
nage and poundage the king's due, even before that duty
was conferred on him by parliamentary authority.^" Four
reigns, and above a whole century, had since elapsed ; and
this revenue had still been levied before it was voted by
Parliament. So long had the inaccuracy continued without
being remarked or corrected.
During that short interval which passed between
Charles's accession and his first Parliament, he had followed
the example of his predecessors ; and no fault was found
with his conduct in this particular. But what was most
remarkable in the proceedings, of that House of Commons,
and what proved beyond controversy that they had seri-
ously formed a plan for reducing their prince to subjection,
was, that instead of granting this supply during the king's
lifetime, as it had been enjoyed by all his immediate pre-
decessors, they voted it only for a year ; and, after that
should be elapsed, reserved to themselves the power of re-
newing or refusing the same concession.*^ But the House
of Peers, who saw that this duty was now become more
necessary than ever to supply the growing necessities of the
crown, and who did not appove of this encroaching spirit
in the Commons, rejected the bill ; and the dissolution of
that Parliament followed so soon after that no attempt
seems to have been made for obtaining tonnage and pound-
age in any other form."
Charles, meanwhile, continued still to levy this duty by
his own authority, and the nation was so accustomed to
that exertion of royal power that no scruple was at first en-
tertained of submitting to it. But the succeeding Parlia-
ment excited doubts in every one. The Commons took
there some steps towards declaring it illegal to levy tonnage
and poundage without consent of Parliament; and tliey
openly showed their intention of employing this engine, in
order to extort from the crown concessions of the most im-
portant nature. But Charles was not yet sufliciently tamed
" 6 Heiirv VIII. cap. 14.
« Journal, July 5tli, 16l'5. « See note [O] at the end of the volume.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 169
to compliswice ; and the abrupt dissolution of that Pailia-
ment, as above related, put an end, for the time, to their
further pretensions.
The following interval between the second and third
Parliament was distinguished by so many exertions of pre-
rogative 'hat men had little leisure to attend to the affair of
tonnage and poundage, where the abuse of power in the
crown might seem to be of a more disputable nature. But
after the Commons, during the precedent session, had rem-
edied all these grievances by means of their Petition of
Right, which they deemed so necessary, they afterwards
proceeded to take the matter into consideration ; and they
showed the same intention as formerly of exacting, in re-
turn for the grant of this revenue, very large compliances
on the part of the crown. Their sudden prorogation pre-
vented them from bringing their pretensions to a full con-
clusion.
When Charles opened this session, he had foreseen that
the same controversy would arise ; and he therefore took
care, very early, among many mild and reconciling expres-
sions, to inform the Commons " that he had not taken these
duties as appertaining to his hereditary prerogative, but that
it ever was, and still is, his meaning to enjoy them as the
gift of his people ; and that if he had hitherto levied tonnage
and poundage, he pretended to justify himself only by the
necessity of 'SO doing, not by any right which he assumed." ^^
This concession, which probably arose from the king's mod-
erate temper, now freed from the impulse of Buckingham's
violent counsels, might have satisfied the Commons had they
entertained no other view than that of ascertaining their
own powers and privileges. But they carried their pi-eten-
sious much higher. They insisted, as a necessary prelimi-
nary, that the king should at once entirely desist from levy-
ing these duties ; after which they were to take it into con-
sideration how far they would restore him to the possession
of a revenue of which he had clearly divested himself. But,
besides that this extreme rigor had never been exercised to-
wards any of his predecessors, and many obvious inconven-
iences must follow from the intermission of the customs,
there wei-e other reasons which deterred Charles from com-
plying with so hard a condition. It was probable that the
Commons might renew their former project of making this
revenue only temporary, and thereby reducing their prince
" Kusliwortli, vol. 1. p. 614. Parliamentary HiBtory. vol. viii pp. 2BG, 346.
170 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
to perpetual dependence ; they certainly would cut off the
new impositions which Mary and Elizabeth, but especially
James, had levied, and which formed no despicable part of
the public revenue ; and they openly declared that they had
at present many important pretensions chiefly with regard
to religion ; and if compliance were refuse^l, no supply must
be expected from the Commons.
It is easy to see in what an inextricable labyrinth Charles
was now involved. By his own concessions, by the general
principles of the English government, and by the form of
every bill which had granted this duty, tonnage and pound-
age was derived entirely from the free gift of the people ;
and, consequently, might be withdrawn at their pleasure.
If unreasonable in their refusal, they still refused nothing but
what was their own. If public necessity required this sup-
ply, it might be thought also to require the king's compli-
ance with those conditions which were the price of obtain-
ing it. Though the motive for granting it had been the
enabling of the king to guard the seas, it did not follow that
because he guarded the seas he was therefore entitled to
this revenue without further formality, since the people had
still reserved to themselves the right of judging how far
that service merited sucli a supj^ly. But Charles, notwith-
standing his public declaration, was far from assenting to
this conclusion in its full extent. The plain consequence,
he saw, of all these rigors and refinements and inferences
was, that he, without any public necessity, and without any
fault of his own, must, of a sudden, even from his accession,
become a magistrate of a very different nature from any of
his predecessors, and must fall into a total dependence on
subjects over whom former kings, especially those imme-
diately preceding, had exercised an authority almost unlim-
ited. Entangled in a chain of consequences which he could
not easily break, he was inclined to go higher, and rather
deny the first principle than admit of conclusions which to
him appeared so absurd and unreasonable. Agreeably to ,
the ideas hitherto entertained both by natives and foreign-
ers, the monarch he esteemed the essence and soul of the
English government ; and whatever other power pretended
to annihilate, or even abridge, the royal authority, must
necessarily, he thought, either in its nature or exercise, be
deemed no better than a usurpation. Willing to preserve
the ancient harmony of the constitution, he°had ever in-
tended to comply, as far as he easily could, with the ancient
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 171
forms of administration. But when these forms appeared
to him, by tlie inveterate obstinacy of the Commons, to have
no other tendency tlian to disturb that harmony and to in-
troduce a new constitution, he concluded that, in this vio-
lent situation, what was subordinate must necessarily yield
to what was principal, and the privileges of the people for
a time give place to roj'^al prerogative. From the rank of a
monarch, to be degraded into a slave of his insolent, ungrate-
ful subjects seemed of all indignities the greatest; and noth-
ing, in his judgment, could exceed the humiliation attending
such a state but the meanness of tamely submitting to it
■without making some efforts to preserve the authority trans-
mitted to him by his predecessors.
Though these were the king's reflections and resolution's
before the Parliament assembled, he did not immediately
break with them upon their delay in voting him this supply.
He thought that he could better justify any strong measure
■which he might afterwards be obliged to take if he allowed
them to carry to the utmost extremities their attacks upon
his government and prerogative.** He contented himself,
for the present, with soliciting the Ilouse by messages and
speeches. But the Commons, instead of hearkening to his
solicitations, proceeded to carry their scrutiny into his man-
agement of religion,*^ which was the only grievance to which,
in their opinion, they had not as yet, by their Petition of
Right, applied a sufficient remedy.
It was not possible that this century, so fertile in relig-
ious sects and disputes, could escape the controversy con-
cerning fatalism and free-will, which, being strongly inter-
woven both with philosophy and theology, had, in all ages,
thrown every school and every church into such inextrica-
ble doubt and perplexity. The first reformers in England,
as in other European countries, had embraced the most
rigid tenets of predestination and absolute decrees, and had
composed upon that system all the articles of their religious
creed. But these principles having met with opposition
from Arminius and his sectaries, the controversy was soon
brought into this island, and began hei-e to diffuse itself. The
Arminians finding more encouragement from tlie superstitious
spirit of the Church than from the fanaticism of the Puri-
tans, gradually incorporated themselves with the former;
and some of that sect, by the indulgence of James and
« Uushworth, vol. i. p. 640.
« Kusliwortli, vol. i. p. 651. 'Wliitloeke, p. 12.
172 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
Charles, had attained the highest preferments in the hier-
archy. But their success with the public had not been alto-
gether answerable to that which they met with in the Church
and the court. Throughout the nation they still lay under
the reproach of innovation and heresy. The Commons now
levelled against them their formidable censures, and rnade
them the objects of daily invective and declamation. Their
protectors were stigmatized ; their tenets canvassed ; their
views represented as dangerous and pernicious. To impar-
tial spectators surely, if any such had been at that time in
England, it must have given great entertainment to see a
popular assembly, inflamed with faction and enthusiasm,
pretend to discuss questions to which the greatest philoso- ~
phers in the tranquillity of retreat had never hitherto been
able to find any satisfactory solution.
Amid that complication of disputes in which men were
then involved, we may observe that the appellation Puritan
stood for three parties, which, though commonly united,
were yet actuated by very different views and motives.
There were the political Puritans, who maintained the high-
est principles of civil liberty ; the Puritans in discipline, who
were averse to the ceremonies and episcopal government of
the Church ; and the doctrinal Puritans, who rigidly de-
fended the speculative system of the first reformers. In
opposition to all these stood the court party, the hierarchy,
and the Arminians ; only with this distinction, that the lat-
ter sect, being introduced a few years before, did not as yet
comprehend all those who were favorable to the Church and
to monarchy. But, as the controversies on every subject
grew daily warmer, men united themselves more intimately
with their friends, and separated themselves wider from
their antagonists; and the distinction gradually became
quite uniform and regular.
This House of Commons, which, like all the preceding
during the reigns of James and Charles, and even of Eliza-
beth, was much governed by the puritanical party, thought
■that they could not better serve their cause than by brand-
ing and punishing the Arminian sect, which, introducing an
innovation in the Church, were the least favored and least
powerful of all their antagonists. From this measure it was
easily foreseen that, besides gratifying the animosity of the
doctrinal Puritans, both the Puritans in discipline and those
in politics would reap considerable advantages. Laud,
Neile, Montague, and other bishops, who were tlie chief sup^
HISTOET OF ENGLAND . 173
porters of episcopal government and the most zealous parti-
sans of the discipline and ceremonies of the Church, were all
supposed to be tainted with Armmianism. The same men
and their disciples were the strenuous preachers of passive
obedience and of entire submission to princes; and if these
could once be censured, and be expelled the Church and
court, it was concluded that the hierarchy would receive a
mortal blow, the ceremonies be less rigidly insisted on, and
the king, deprived of his most faithful friends, be obliged to
abate those high claims of prerogative on which at present
he insisted.
But Charles, besides a view of the political consequences
which must result from a compliance with such pretensions,
was strongly determined, from principles of piety and con-
science, to oppose them. Neither the dissipation incident to
youth, nor the pleasures attending a high fortune, had been
able to prevent this virtuous prince from embracing the
most sincere sentiments of religion ; and that character which,
in that religious age, should have been of infinite advantage
to hini, proved in the end the chief cause of his ruin ; merely
because the religion adopted by him was not of that precise
mode and sect which began to jsrevail among his subjects.
His piety, though remote from popery, had a tincture of su-
perstition in it ; and, being averse to the gloomy spirit of the
Puritans, was represented by them as tending towards the
abominations of Antichrist. Laud also had unfortunately ac-
quired a great ascendant over him ; and as all those prelates,
obnoxious to the Commons, were regarded as his chief friends
and most favorite courtiers, he was resolved not to disarm
and dishonor himself by abandoning them to the resentment
of his enemies. Being totally unprovided wiih military
force, and finding a refractory independent spirit to prevail
among the people, the most solid basis of his authority, he
thought, consisted in the support which he received from the
hierarchy.
In the debates of the Commons which are transmitted to
us. It is easy to discern so early some sparks of that enthusi-
astic fire which afterwards set the whole nation in combus-
lion. One Rouse made use of an allusion which, though
familiar, seems to have been borrowed from the writings of
Lord Bacon." " If a man meet a dog alone," said he,
" the dog is fearful, though ever so fierce by nature ; but if
the dog have his master with him, he will set upon that man
« Essay of Atheism.
174 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
from whom he fled before. This shows that lower natures,
being backed by higher, increase in courage and strength ;
and certainly man, being backed with Omnipotency, is a
kind of omnipotent creature. All things are possible to him
that believes, and where all things are possible there is a
kind of omnipotency. Wherefore, let it be the unanimous
consent and resolution of us all to make a vow and covenant
henceforth to hold fast our God and our religion ; and then
shall we henceforth expect with certainty happiness in this
world." '■'
Oliver Cromwell, at that time a young man of no account
in the nation, is mentioned in these debates as complaining
of one who, he was told, preached flat popery.*' It is amus-
ing to observe the first words of this fanatical hypocrite cor-
respond so exactly to his character.
The inquiries and debates concerning tonnage and pound-
age went hand in hand with these theological or metaphysi-
cal controversies. The officers of the custom-house were
summoned before the Commons to give an account by what
authority they had seized the goods of merchants who had
refused to pay these duties: the barons of the exchequer
were questioned concerning their decrees on that head.*' One
of the sheriffs of London was committed to the Tower for
his activity in supporting the officers of the custom-house ;
the goods of Rolles, a merchant and a member of the House,
being seized for his refusal to pay the duties, complaints
were made of this violence, as if it were a breach of privi-
lege.^" Charles supported his officers in all these measures ;
and the quarrel grew every day higher between him and the
Commons.'^^ Mention was made in the House of impeach-
ing Sir Richard Weston, the treasurer ; ^'^ and the king be-
gan to entertain thoughts of finishing the session by a dis-
solution.
Sir John Elliot framed a remonstrance against levying
tonnage and poundage without consent of Parliament, and
offered it to the clerk to read. It was refused. He read it
himself. The question being then called for, the speaker,
Sir John Finch, said that " he had a command from the king
to adjourn, and to put no question." ^s Upon which he rose
" Eushworth, "ol. i. p. 646. Parlinmentary History, vol. viii. p 260
" Eushworth, vol. i- p. 665. Puilianieiitary History, vol. viii. p! 289
" Eushworth, vol. i. p. 654. Parliamentary History, vol. viii d. SOl'
M Eushworth, vol. i. p. 653. k ov .
" Eushworth, vol. i. p. 6f)8. ra Parliamentary History, vol. viii p .126
ss The king's power of adjourniiiE as well as proroguing the Parliament'was,
and is, never questioned. In the 19th of the late king, the judges determined
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 175
and left the chair. The whole House was in an uproar. The
speaker was pushed back into the chair, and forcibly held in
it by Hollis and Valentine, till a short remonstrance was
framed, and was passed by acclamation rather than by vote.
Papists and Arminians were there declared capital enemies
to the commonwealth. Those, who levied tonnage and
poundage were branded with the same epithet ; and even
the merchants who should voluntarily pay these duties were
denominated betrayers of English liberty and public enemies.
The doors being locked, the gentleman usher of the House
of Lords, who was sent by the king, could not get admit-
tance till this remonstrance was finished. By the king's
order, he took the mace from the table, wjiich ended their
proceedings;^* and a few days after the Parliament was dis-
solved.
The discontents of the nation ran high, on account of
this violent rupture between the king and Parliament. These
discontents Charles inflamed by his affectation of a severity
which he had not power, nor probably inclination, to carry
to extremities. Sir Miles Hobart, Sir Peter Heyman, Sel-
den, Coriton, Long, Strode, were committed to prison, on
account of the last tumult in the House, which was called
sedition.^' With great difficulty, and after several delays,
they were released ; and the law was generally supposed to
be wi-ested, in order to prolong their imprisonment. Sir
John Elliot, Hollis, and Valentine were summoned to their
trial in the king's bench, for seditious speeches and behavior
in Parliament ; but refusing to answer before an inferior
court for their conduct as members of a supei-ior, they were
condemned to be imprisoned during the king's pleasure, to
find sureties for their good behavior, and to be fined, the
two former in a thousand pounds apiece, the latter five hun-
dred.^* This sentence, procured by the influence of the
crown, served only to show the king's disregard to the privi- '
leges of Parliament, and to acquire an immense stock of
popularity to the sufferers, who had so bravely, in opposi-
tion to arbitrary power, defended the liberties of their native
country. The Commons of England, though an immense
body, and possessed of the greater part of national property,
that the adjournment by the kiilg kept the Pavliameiit in statu quo until the
next sitting ; but tliat then no committees were to meet ; hut if the adjournment
be by the House, then the committees and other matters do continue. — Parlia^
mentary History, vol. v. p. 466,
M Kushworth, vol. i. p. 660. Whitlocke, p. 12.
6fi Bushworth, vol. i, pp. 661, 681, Parliamentary History, vol. viii. p. 354.
May, p. 13, ™ Kushworth, vol. i, pp. 684, 691.
176 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
were naturally somewhat cleferceless, because of their per-
sonal equality and their want of leaders ; but the king's se-
verit}', if these prosecutions deserve the name, here pointed
out leaders to them whose resentment was inflamed, and
whose courage was nowise daunted by the hardships which
they had undergone in so honorable a cause.
So much did these prisoners glory in their sufferings
that, though they were promised liberty on that condition,
they would not condescend even to present a petition to the
king expressing their sorrow for having offended him."
They unanimously refused to find sureties for their good be-
havior, and disdained to accept of deliverance on such easy
terms. Nay, Mollis was so industrious to continue his meri-
torious distress that, when one offered to bail him he would
not yield to the rule of court and be himself bound with his
friend. Even Long, who had actually found sureties in the
chief-justice's chamber, declared in court that his sureties
should no longer continue.^' Yet, because Sir John Elliot
happened to die while in custody, a great clamor was raised
against the administration ; and he was universally regarded
as a martyr to the liberties of England.*'
" Whitlocke, p. 13. « Kennet, vol. iii. p. 49. » Kusliworth, vol. v. p. 440.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 177
CHAPTER LII.
PEACE WITH FEANCE. PEACE WITH SPAIN. STATE OF THE '
COURT AND MINISTRY. CHARACTER OF THE QUEEN.
STRAFFORD. LAUD. INNOVATIONS IN THE CHURCH. IR-
REGULAR LEVIES OF MONEY. SEVERITIES IN THE STARr
CHAMBER AND HIGH COMMISSION. SHIP-MONEY. TRIAL
OF HAMBDEN.
[1629.] There now opens to us a new scene. Charles,
naturally disgusted with parliaments, who, he found, were
determined to proceed against him with unmitigated rigor,
both in invading his prerogative and refusing him all sup-
ply, resolved not to call any more till he should see greater
indications of a compliant disposition in the nation. Hav-
ing lost his great favorite, Buckingham, he became his own
minister, and never afterwards reposed in any one such un-
limited confidence. As he chiefly follows his own genius
and disposition, his measures are henceforth less rash and
hasty ; though the general tenor of his administration still
wants somewhat of being entirely legal, and perhaps more
of being entirely prudent.
We shall endeavor to exhibit a just idea of the events
which followed for some years, so far as they regard foreign
affairs, the state of the court, and the government of the na-
tion. The incidents are neither numerous nor illustrious,
but the knowledge of them is necessary for understanding
the subsequent transactions which are so memorable.
Charles, destitute of all supply, was necessarily reduced
to embrace a measure which ought to have been the result
of reason and sound policy : he made peace with the two
crowns against which he had hitherto waged a war, entered
into without necessity and conducted without glory. Not-
withstanding the distracted and helpless condition of Eng-
land, no attempt was made, either by Prance or Spain, to
invade their enemy ; nor did they entertain any further
project than to defend themselves against the feeble and ill-
concerted expeditions of that kingdom. Pleased that the
jealousies and quarrels between the king and Parliament
Vojt. IV.— 12
178 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
had disarmed so formidable a power, they carefully avoided
any enterprise which might I'Oiise either the terror or anger
of the English, and dispose them to domestic union and sub-
mission. The endeavors to regain the good-will of the na-
tion were carried so far by the King of Spain that he gen-
erously released and sent home all the English prisoners
taken in the expedition against Cadiz. The example was
imitated by France, after the retreat of the English from
the isle of Rhe. When princes were in such dispositions,
and had so few pretensions on each other, it could not be
diiBcult to conclude a peace. The treaty was first signed
with France.* The situaticm of the king's affairs did not
entitle him to demand any conditions for the Huguenots,
and they were abandoned to the will of their sovereign.
[1630.] Peace was afterwards concluded with Spain, where
no conditions were made in favor of the Palatine, except
that Spain promised in general to use their good offices for
his restoration.'^ The influence of these two wars on domes-
tic affairs, and on the dispositions of king and people, was
of the utmost consequence ; but no alteration was made by
them on the foreign interests of the kingdom.
Nothing more happy can be imagined than the situation
in which England then stood with i-egard to foreign affairs.
Europe was divided between the rival families of Bourbon
and Austria, whose opposite interests, and still more their
mutual jealousies, secured the tranquillity of this island ; their
forces were so nearly counterpoised that no apprehensions
were entertained of any event which could suddenly disturb
the balance of power between them. The Spanish monarch,
deemed the most powerful, lay at greatest distance ; and
the English, by that means, possessed the advantage of be-
ing engaged by political motives in a more intimate union
and confederacy with the neighboring potentate. The dis-
persed situation of the Spanish dominions rendered the naval
power of England formidable to them, and kept that empire
in continual dependence. France, more vigorous and more
compact, was every day rising in policy and discipline, and
reached at last an equality of power with the House of Aus-
tria ; but her progress, slow and gradual, left it still in the
power of England, by a timely interposition, to check her
superiority. And thus Charles, could he have avoided all
dissensions with his own subjects, was in a situation to
make himself be courted and respected by every power in
> Eushworth, vol. ii- pp- 23, 24. = Rushworlh, vol. ii. p. 78. WHitlocke, p. 14.
niSTOEY OF ENGLAND. 179
Europe ; and, what has scarcely ever since been attained by
the princes of this island, he could either be active with
dignity or neutral with security.
A neutrality was embraced by the king, and during the
rest of his reign he seems to have little regarded foreign af-
fairs, except so far as he was engaged by honor, and by
friendship for his sister and the Palatine, to endeavor the
procuring of some relief for that unhappy family. He
joined his good oflBces to those of France, and mediated a
peace between the Kings of Sweden and Poland, in hopes
of engaging the former to embrace the protection of the op-
pressed Protestants in the empire. This was the famed
Gustavus, whose heroic genius, seconded by the wisest pol-
icy, made him in a little time the most distinguished mon-
arch of the age, and rendered his country, formerly unknown
and neglected, of great weight in the balance of Europe.
To encourage and assist him in his projected invasion of
Germany, Charles agreed to furnish him with six thousand
men ; but that he might preserve the appearance of neutral-
ity, he made use of the Marquis of Hamilton's name.'
That nobleman entered into an engagement with Gustavus,
and enlisting these troops in England and 'Scotland at
Charles's expense, he landed them in the Elbe. The de-
cisive battle of Leipsic was fought soon after, where the
conduct of Tilly and the valor of the imperialists were over-
come by the superior conduct of Gustavus and the superior
valor of the Swedes. What remained of this hero's life was
one continued series of victory, for which he was less be-
holden to fortune than to those personal endowments which
he derived from nature and from industry. That rapid prog-
ress of conquest which we so much admire in ancient history
was here renewed in modern annals, and without that cause
to which in former ages it had ever been owing. Military
nations were not now engaged against an undisciplined and
unwarlike people, nor heroes set in opposition to cowards.
The veteran troops of Ferdinand, conducted by the most
celebrated generals- of the age, were foiled in every encoun-
ter, and all Germany was overrun in an instant by the vic-
torious Swede. But by this extraordinary and unexpected
success of his ally, Charles failed of the purpose for which
he framed the alliance. Gustavus, elated by prosperity, be-
gan to form more extensive plans of ambition, and in free-
ing Germany from the yoke of Ferdinand, he intended to
' Rushwortli, vol. i. pp. 46, 53, 62, 83.
180 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
reduce it to subjection under his own. He refused to re-
stove the Palatine to his principality, except on conditions
which would have kept him in total dependence.* And tlius
the negotiation was protracted till the battle of Lutzen,
where the Swedish monarch perished in the midst of a com-
plete victory which he obtained over his enemies.
We have carried on these transactions a few years be-
yond the present period that we might not be obliged to
return to them, nor be henceforth interrupted in our account
of Charles's court and kingdoms.
When we consider Charles as presiding in his court, as
associating with his family, it is difficult to imagine a char-
acter at once more respectable and more amiable. A kind
husband, an indulgent father, a gentle master, a steadfast
friend, to all these eulogies his conduct in private life fully
entitled him. As a monarch, too, in the exterior qualities
he excelled ; in the essential, he was not defective. His ad-
dress and manner, though perhaps inclining a little towards
stateliness and formality, in the main corresponded to his
high rank, and gave grace to that reserve and gravity which
were natural to him. The moderation and equity which
shone forth in his temper seemed to secure him against rash
and dangerous enterprises ; the good sense which he dis-
played in his discourse and conversation seemed to warrant
his success in every reasonable undertaking. Other endow-
ments likewise he had attained, which in a private gentle-
man, would have been highly ornamental, and which in a
great monarch might have proved extremely useful to his
people. He was possessed of an excellent taste in all the
fine arts, and the love of painting was, in some degree, his
favorite passion. Learned beyond what is common in
princes, he was a good judge of writing in others, and en-
joyed, himself, no mean talent in composition. In any other
age or nation, this monarch had been secure of a prosperous
and a happy reign. But the high idea of his own authority
which he had imbibed made him incapable of giving way to
the spirit of liberty which hegan to prevail among his sub-
jects. His politics were not supported by such vigor and
foresight as might enable him to subdue their pretensions
and maintain his prerogative at the high pitch to which it
had been raised by his predecessors ; and, above all, the
spirit of .enthusiasm being universally diffused disappointed
* Franklyn, vol. i. p. 416
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 181
all the views of human prudence and disturbed the opera-
tion of every motive which usually influences society.
But the misfortunes arising from these cau.ses were yet
remote. Charles now enjoyed himself in the full exercise
of his authority, in a social intercourse with his friends and
courtiers, and in a moderate use of those pleasures which he
most affected.
After the death of Buckingham, who had somewhat alien-
ated Charles from the queen, she is to be considered as his
chief friend and favorite. That rustic contempt of the fair
sex which James affected, and which, banishing them fi-oni
his court, made it resemble more a fair or an exchange than
the seat of a great prince, was very wide of the disposition
of this monarch. But though full of complaisance to the
whole sex, Charles reserved all his passion for his consort,
to whom he attached himself with unshaken fidelity and con-
fidence. By her sense and spirit as well as by her beauty
she justified the fondness of her husband, though it is allowed
that, being somewhat of a passionate temper, she precipitat-
ed him into hasty and imprudent measures. Her religio*i,
likewise, to which she, was much addicted, must be regarded
as a great misfortune, since it augmented the jealousy which
prevailed against the court, and engaged her to procure for
the Catholics some indulgences which were generally dis-
tasteful to the nation.*
In the former situation of the English government, when
the sovereign was in a great measure independent of his
subjects, the king chose his ministers either from personal
favor- or from an opinion of their abilities, without any re-
gard to their parliamentary interest or talents. It has since
been the maxim of princes, wherever popular leaders en-
croach too much on royal authority, to confer offices on
them, in expectation that they will afterwards becorne more
careful not to diminish that power which has become their
own. These politics were now embraced by Charles — a
sure proof that a secret revolution had happened in the
constitution and had necessitated the prince to adopt new
maxims of government.^ But the views of the king were at
this time so repugnant to those of the Puritans that the
leaders whom he gained lost from that moment all interest
with their party, and were even pursued as traitors with
implacable hjitred and resentment. This was the case with
Sir Thomas Wentworth, whom the king created, first a
s May, p. 21. • Sir Edward Walker, p. 328.
182 HISTOKT OF ENGLAND.
baron, then a viscount, and afterwards Earl of Strafford ;
made him ]iresident of the Council of York, and deputy of
Ireland, and regarded him as his chief minister and council-
lor. By his eminent talents and abilities, Strafford mer-
ited all the confidence which his master reposed in him : his
character was stately and austere, more fitted to procure
esteem than love; his fidelity to the king was unshaken;
but as he now employed all his counsels to support the pre-
rogative which he had formerly bent all his endeavors to
diminish, his virtue seems not to have been entirely pure,
but to have been susceptible of strong impressions from pri-
vate interest and ambition. Sir Dudley Digges was about
the same time created master of the rolls ; Noy, attorney-
general ; Littleton, solicitor-general. All these had likewise
been parliamentary leaders,, and were men eminent in their
profession.'
In all ecclesiastical affairs, and even in many civil, Laud,
Bishop of London, had great influence over the king. This
man was virtuoi^s, if severity of manners alone and absti-
nence from pleasure could deserve that name. He was
learned, if polemical knowledge could entitle him to that
praise. He was disinterested, but with unceasing industry
he studied to exalt the priestly and prelatical character,
which was his own. His zeal was unrelenting in the cause
of religion — that is, in imposing by rigorous measures his
own tenets and pious ceremonies on the obstinate Puritans
who had profanely dared to oppose him. In prosecution of
his holy purposes, he overlooked every human considera-
tion ; or, in other words, the heat and indiscretion of his
temper made him neglect the views of prudence and rules
of good manners. He was in this respect happy that all his
enemies were also imagined by him the declared enemies to
loyalty and true piety, and that every exercise of his anger
by that means became in his eyes a merit and a virtue.
This was the man who acquired so great an ascendant over
Charles, and. who led him, by the facility of his temper, into
a conduct w hi h proved so fatal to himself and to his king-
doms.
The humor of the nation ran at that time into the extreme
opposite to superstition, and it was with difficulty that the
ancient ceremonies to which men had been accustomed, and
which had been sanctified by the practice of the first reform-
ers, could be retained in divine service ; yet was this the
' Whitlocke, p. 13. May, p. 20.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 183
time which Laud chose for the introduction of new ceremon-
ies and observances. Besides that these were sure to dis-
please as innovations, there lay, in the opinion of the public,
another very forcible objection against them. Laud and
the other prelates who embraced his measures were gen-
erally well instructed in sacred antiquity, and had adopted
many of those religious sentiments which prevailed during
the fourth and fifth centuries, when the Christian Chui-cli,
as is well known, was already sunk into those superstitions
which were afterwards continued and augmented by the
policy of Rome. The revival, therefore, of the ideas and prac-
tices of that age could not fail of giving the English faith and
liturgy some resemblance to the Catholic superstition, which
the kingdom in general and the Puritans in particular held
in the greatest horror and detestation. Men, also, were apt
to think that, without some secret purpose, such insignifi-
cant observances would not be imposed with such unrelent-
ing zeal on the refractory nation, and that Laud's scheme
was to lead back the English by gradual steps to the re-
ligion of their ancestors. They considered not that the
very insignificancy of these ceremonies recommended them
to the superstitious prelate, and made them appear the
more peculiarly sacred and religious, as they could serve to
no other purpose. Nor was the resemblance to the Romish
ritual any objection, but rather a merit, with Laud and his
brethren, who bore a much greater kindness to the mother
Church, as they called her, than to the sectaries and Pres-
byterians, and frequently recommended her as a true Chris-
tian Church, an appellation which they refused, or at least
scrupled, to give to the others.' So openly were these
tenets espoused that not only the discontented Puritans be-
lieved the Church of England to be relapsing fast into Rom-
ish superstition, the court of Rome itself entertained hopes
of regaining its authority in this island ; and in order to
forward Laud's supposed good intentions, an offer was
twice made him, in private, of a cardinal's hat, which he
declined accepting.' His answer was, as he says himself,
"that something dwelt within him which would not suffer
his compliance till Rome were other than it is." "
A court lady, daughter of the Earl of Devonshire,
having turned Catholic, was asked by Laud the reason of
her conversion. " 'Tis chiefly," said she, " because I hate
« May, p. 25. ' Rusliworth, vol. ii. p. 190. Welwood, p. 61.
M KuBhworth, vol. iii. p. 1327. WMtlockc, p. 97.
184 HISTORY OS ENGLAND.
to travel in a crowd." The meaning of this expression
being demanded, she replied, " I perceive your grace and
many others are making haste to Rome ; and, therefore, in
order to prevent my being crowded, I have gone before
you." It must be confessed that, though Laud deserved
not the appellation of Papist, the genius of his religion was,
though in a less degree, the same with that of the Romish :
the same profound respect was exacted to the sacerdotal
character, the same submission required to the creeds and
decrees of synods and councils, the same pomp and cere-
mony was affected in worship, and the same superstitious
regard to days, postures, meats, and vestments. No won-
der, therefore, that this prelate was everywhere among the
Puritans regarded with horror as the forerunner of Anti-
christ.
As a specimen of the new ceremonies to which Laud
sacrificed his own quiet and that of the nation, it may not
be amiss to relate those which he was accused of employing
in the consecration of St. Catherine's Church, and which
were the object of such general scandal and offence.
On the bishop's approach to the west door of the church,
a loud voice cried, " Open, open, ye everlasting doors, that
the King of glory may enter in ! " Immediately the doors
of the church flew open, and the bishop entered. Falling
upon his knees, with eyes elevated and arms expanded, he
uttered these words : " This place is holy ; the ground is
holy : in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I
pronounce it holy."
Going towards the chancel, he several times took up
from the floor some of the dust and threw it in the air.
When he approached with his attendants near to the com-
munion-table, he bowed frequently towards it ; and, on
their retun, they went round the church, repeating, as they
marched along, some of the Psalms ; and then said a form
of prayer which concluded with these words: "We. con-
secrate this church, and separate it unto thee as holy ground,
not to be profaned any more to common uses."
After this the bishop, standing near the communion-
table, solemnly pronounced many imprecations upon such
as should afterwards pollute that holy place by musters of
soldiers, or keeping in it profane law-courts, or carrying
burdens through it. On the conclusion of every curse he
bowed towards the east and cried, " Let all the people say,
Amen."
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 186
The imprecations being all so piously finished, there
were poured out a number of blessings upon such as had
any hand in framing and building that sacred and beautiful
edifice, and on such as had given, or should hereafter give,
to it any chalices, plate, ornaments, or utensils. At every
benediction, he in like manner bowed towards the east, and
cried, " Let all the people .say. Amen."
The sermon followed ; after which the bishop conse-
crated and administered the sacrament in the following
manner :
As he approached the communion-table, he made many
lowly reverences ; and coming up to that part of the table
where the bread and wine lay, he bowed seven times.
After the reading of many prayers, he approached the sacra-
mental elements, and gently lifted up the corner of the
napkin in which the bread was placed. When he beheld
the bread, he suddenly let fall the napkin, flew back a step
or two, bowed three several times towards the bread ; then
he drew nigh again, opened the napkin, and bowed as be-
fore.
Next, he laid his hand on the cup, which had a cover
upon it, and was filled with wine. He let go the cup, fell
back, and bowed thrice towards it. He approached again ;
and, lifting up the cover, peeped into the cup. Seeing the
wine, he let fall the cover, started back, and bowed as be-
fore. Then he received the sacrament, and gave it to
others. And many prayers being said, the solemnity of
the consecration ended. The walls and floor and roof of
the fabric were then supposed to be sufficiently holy."
Orders were given and rigorously insisted on that the
communion-table should be removed from the middle of the
area, where it hitherto stood in all churches, except in
cathedrals.^'' It was placed at the east end, railed in, and
denominated an altak — as the clergyman who officiated
received commonly the appellation of priest. It is not
easy to imagine the discontents excited by this innovation,
and the suspicions which it gave rise to.
The kneeling at the altar, and the using of copes, a
species of embroidered vestment, in administering the sac-
rament, were also known to be great objects of scandal as
being popish practices ; but the opposition increased rather
than abated the zeal of the prelate for the introduction of
these habits and ceremonies.
11 Rushworth, vol. ii. pp. 76, 77. Welwood, p. 275. Franklyn, p. 386.
1!! Kusliworth, vol. ii. p. 207. Whitlocke, p. 24.
186 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
All kinds of ornament, especially pictures, were neces-
sary for supporting that mechanical devotion which was
purposed to be raised in this model of religion ; but, as
these had been so much employed by the Church of Rome,
and had given rise to so much superstition, or what the
Puritans call idolatry, it was impossible to introduce them,
into English churches without exciting general murmurs and
complaints. But Laud, possessed of present authority, per-
sisted in his purpose, and made several attempts towards
acquiring these ornaments. Some of the pictures intro-
duced by him were also found, upon inquiry, to be the very
same that might be met with in the mass-book. The cruci-
fix, too, that eternal consolation of all pious Catholics, and
terror to all sound Protestants, was not forgotten on this
occasion.^'
It was much remarked that Sherfield, the recorder of
Salisbury, was tried in the Star-chamber for having broken,
contrary to the Bishop of Salisbury's express injunctions a
painted window of St. Edmond's Church in that city.
He boasted that he had destroyed these monuments of
idolatry ; but for this effort of his zeal he was fined five
hundred pounds, removed from his office, condemned to
make a public acknowledgment, and be bound to his good
behavior."
Not only such of the clergy as neglected to observe
every ceremony were suspended and deprived by the high
commission court. Oaths were, by many of the bishops,
imposed on the churchwardens ; and they were sworn to
inform against any one who acted contrary to the ecclesi-
astical canons.'^ Such a measure, though practised during
the reign of Elizabeth, gave much offence as resembling too
nearly the practice of the Romish Inquisition.
To show the greater alienation from the churches
reformed after the Presbyterian model, Laud advised that
the discipline and worship of the Church should be imposed
on the English regiments and trading companies abroad."
All foreigners of the Dutch and Walloon congregations were
commanded to attend the Established Church ; and indul-
gence was granted to none after the children of the first den-
izens." Scudamore, too, the king's ambassador at Paris,
had orders to withdraw himself from the communion of the
" Rushworth, vol. ii. pp. 272, 273.
<4 Eushworth, vol. ii. p. 152. State Trials, vol. v. p. 46. Pranklyn. pp. 410,
*";„*}?• ^ , , .. '^ Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 186.
■= Rushworth, vol. 11. p. 249. Franklyn, p. 451. " Ru8h«"»rth vol ii p 272,
HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 187
Huguenots. Even men of sense were apt to blame this
conduct, not only because it gave offence in England, but
because, in foreign countries, it lost the crown the advantage
of being considered as the head and support of the Refor-
mation.^'
On pretence of pacifying disputes, orders were issued
from the council forbidding on both sides all preaching and
printing with regard to the controverted points of predesti-
nation and free-will. But it was complained of, and prob-
ably with reason, that the impartiality was altogether con-
fined to the orders, and that the execution of them was only
meant against the Calvinists.
In return for Charles's indulgence towards the Church,
Laud and his followers took care to magnify, on every occa-
sion, the regal authority, and to treat with the utmost disdain
or detestation all puritanical pretensions to a free and inde-
pendent constitution. But while these prelates were so
liberal in raising the crown at the expense of public liberty,
they made no scruple of encroaching themselves on the
royal rights the most incontestable, in order to exalt the
hierarchy and procure to their own order dominion and
independence. All the doctrines which the Romish Church
had borrowed from some of the fathers, and which freed the
spiritual from subordination to the civil power, were now
adopted by the Church of England and interwoven with her
political and religious tenets. A divine and apostolical
charter was insisted on preferably to a legal and parliamen-
tary one." The sacerdotal character was magnified as sacred
and indefeasible. All right to spiritual authority, or even
to private judgment in spiritual subjects, was refused to
profane laymen ; ecclesiastical courts were held by the
bishops in their own name without any notice taken of the
king's authority ; and Charles, though extremely jealous of
every claim in popular assemblies, seemed rather to encour-
age than repress those encroachments of his clergy. Having
felt many sensible inconveniences from the independent
spirit of parliaments, he attached himself entirely to those
who professed a devoted obedience to his crown and person ;
nor did he foresee that the ecclesiastical power which he
exalted, not admitting of any precise boundary, might in
time become more dangerous to public peace, and no less
fatal to royal prerogative, than the other.
" state Papers collected by tlie Earl of Clarendon, p. 338.
19 Wliitlocke, p. 22.
188 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
So eai-ly as the coronation, Laud was the person, accord-
ing to general opinion, that introduced a novelty, which,
though overlooked by Charles, made a deep impression on
many of the V)ystanders. After the usual ceremonies, these
words were recited to the king: " Stand and hold fast, from
henceforth, the place to which you have been heir by the
succession of your forefathers, being now delivered to you
by the authority of Almighty God, and by the hands of us
and all the bishops and servants of God. And as you see
clergy to come nearer the altar than others, so remember
that in all places convenient, you give them greater honor;
that the Mediator of God and man may establish you on the
kingly throne to be a mediator betwixt the clergy and the
laity ; and that you may reign forever with Jesus Christ, the
King of kings, and Lord of lords." ™
The principles which exalted prerogative were not enter-
tained by the king merely as soft and agreeable to his royal
ears. They were also put in practice during the time that
he ruled without parliaments. Though frugal and regular
in his expense, he wanted money for the support of govern-
ment ; and he levied it either by the revival of obsolete laws,
or by violations — some more open, some more disguised — of
the privileges of the nation. Though humane and gentle in
his temper, he gave way to a few severities in the Star-
chamber and high commission, which seemed necessary in
order to support the present mode of administration and
repress the rising spirit of liberty throughout the kingdom.
Under these two heads may be reduced all the remarkable
transactions of this reign during some years ; for, in peace-
able and prosperous times, where a neutrality in foreign
affairs is obsei-ved, scarcely anything is remarkable but what
is, in some degree, blamed or blamalsle. And, lest the hope
of relief or protection from Parliament might encourage
opposition, Charles issued a proclamation, in which he
declared "that, whereas, for several ill ends, the calling again
of a Parliament is di\Ti]ged — though his majesty has'shown
by frequent meetings with his people his love to the use of
parliaments — yet the late abuse having, for the present,
driven him unwillingly out of that course, he will account it
presumption for any one to prescribe to him any time for
the calling of tliat usseuibly." -^ This was generally con-
strued as a declaration that during this reign no more par-
z» Franklyii. p- 114. Rusliwoi-th, vol. i. p. 201.
21 Parliamentary History, vol. -viii. p. 38D. Eushwortb, vol. ii. p. S.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 189
liaments were intended to be summoned ; '''' and every meas-
ure of the king's confirmed a suspicion so disagreeable to
the generality of the people.
Tonnage and poundage continued to be levied by the
royal authority alone. The former additional impositions
were still exacted. Even new impositions were laid on
several kinds of merchandise.^'
The custom-house officers received orders from the
council to enter into any house, warehouse, or cellar; to
search any trunk or chest ; and to break any bulk whatever,
in default of the payment of customs.^^
In order to exercise the militia and to keep them in good
order, each county, by an edict of the council, was assessed
in a certain sum for maintaining a muster-master appointed
for that service.^^
Compositions were openly made with recusants, and the
popish religion became a regular part of the revenue. This
was all the persecution which it underwent during the reign
of Charles.'^''
A commission was granted for compounding with such
as were possessed of crown lands upon defective titles ; and,
on this pretence, some money was exacted from the people."'
There was a law of Edward 11.,''^ that whoever was
possessed of twenty pounds a year in land should be obliged,
when summoned, to appear and to receive the order of
knighthood. Twenty pounds at that time, partly by the
change of denomination, partly by that in the value of money,
were equivalent to two hundred in the seventeen.th century;
and it seemed just that the king should not strictly insist on
the letter of the law, and oblige people of so small revenue
to accept of that expensive honor. Edward VI.^' and Queen
Elizabeth,"" who had both of them made use of this expedi-
ent for raising money, had summoned only those who were
possessed of forty pounds a year and upwards to receive
knighthood, or compound for their neglect; and Charles
imitated their example in granting the same indulgence.
Commissioners were appointed for fixing the rates of com-
position ; and instructions were given to these commissioners
not to accept. of a less sum than would have been due by the
party upon a tax of three subsidies and a half.'' Nothing
" Clarendon, vol. i. p. 4. May, p. 14.
23 Eu^liwoith, vol. ii. p. 8. May, p. 16.
2* Rupliwoi'th, vol. ii. p. 9. 25 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 10.
2'' Eushworth, \ol. ii. pp. 11, 12, 13, 247. 2; Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 49.
2' Stalutuin tie .Militibus. 29 Rymer, vol. xv. p. 124.
'" Rymer, vol. xv. pp. 493, 504. « Eushworth, vol. ii. pp. 70, 71, 72. May, p. 16.
190 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
proves more plainly how ill-disposed the people were to the
measures of the crown than to observe that they loudly
complained of an expedient founded on positive statute and
warranted by such recent precedents. The law was pre-
tended to be obsolete, though only one reign had intervened
since the last execution of it.
Barnard, lecturer of St. Sepulchre's, London, used this
expression in his prayer before sermon : " Lord, open the
eyes of the queen's majesty, that she may see Jesus Christ,
whom she has pierced with her infidelity, superstition, and
idolatry." He was questioned in the high-commission court
for this insult on the queen ; but, upon his submission, dis-
missed.'^ Leighton, who had written libels against the king,
the queen, the bishops, and the whole administration, was
condemned by a very severe, if not a cruel, sentence ; but
the execution of it was suspended for some time in expecta-
tion of his submission.'^ All the severities, indeed, of this
reign were exercised against those who triumphed in their
sufferings, who courted persecution, and braved authority ;
and on that account their punishment may be deemed the
more just, but the less prudent. To have neglected them
entirely (had it been consistent with order and public safety)
had been the wisest measure that could have been embraced,
as perhaps it had been the most severe punishment that
could have been inflicted on these zealots.
[1631.] In order to gratify the clergy with a magnificent
fabric, subscript! oris were set on foot for repairing and re-
building St. Paul's, and the king, by his countenance and ex-
ample, encouraged this laudable undertaking.'* By order of
the privy council, St. Gregory's church was removed, as an
impediment to the project of extending and beautifying the
cathedral. Some houses and shops, likewise, were pulled
down, and compensation was made to the owners.** As
there was no immediate prospect of assembling a Parliament,
such acts of power in the king became necessary ; and in no
former age would the people have entertained any scruple
with regard to them. It must be remarked that the Puritans
were extremely averse to the raising of this ornament to the
capital. It savored, as they pretended, of popish super-
stition.
A stamp duty was imposed on cards ; a new tax, which
32 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 32.
M Kennet'B Complete History, vol. iii. p. 60. Whitlooke p 15
s« Whitlocke, p. 17. so Kusliwoitli, vol. ii. pp. 88, £9, 9U, 20T, 462, 718.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 191
of itself was uable to no objection, but appeared of danger-
ous consequence when considered as ai'bitrary and illegal.^'
Monopolies were revived ; an oppressive method of levying
money, being unlimited as well as destructive of industry.
The last Parliament of James, which abolished monopolies,
had left an equitable exception in favor of new inventions,
and on pretence of these, and of erecting new companies
and corporations, was this grievance now renewed. The
manufacture of soap was given to a company, who paid a
sum for their patent." Leather, salt, and many other com-
modities, even down to line?! rags, were put under restric-
tions.
It is affirmed by Clarendon that so little benefit was
reaped from these projects that of two hundred thousand
pounds thereby levied on the people, scarcely one thousand
five hundred came into the king's cofiEers. Though we ought
not to suspect the noble historian of exaggerations to the
disadvantage of Charles's measures, this fact, it must be
owned, appears somewhat incredible. The same author
adds that the king's intention was to teach his subjects how
unthrifty a thing it was to refuse reasonable supplies to the
crown. An imprudent project ! to offend a whole nation,
under the view of punishment ; and to hope, by acts of vio-
lence, to break their refractory spirits, without being pos-
sessed of any force to prevent resistance.
[1632.] The Council of York had been first erected, after
a rebellion, by a patent from Henry VIII. without any au-
thority of Parliament ; and this exercise of power, like many
others, was indulged to that ai-bitrary monarch. This council
had long acted chiefly as a criminal court; but, besides some
innovations introduced by James, Charles thought proper,
some time after Wentworth was made president, to extend
its powers, and to give it a large civil jurisdiction, and that
in some respects discretionary.^' It is not improbable that
the king's intention was only to prevent inconveniences,
which arose from the bringing of every cause, from the most
distant parts of the kingdom, into Westminster Hall; but the
consequence, in the mean time, of this measure was the put-
ting of all the northern counties out of the protection of or-
dinary law, and subjecting them to an authority somewhat
arbitrary. Some irregular acts of that council were this
year complained of.^^
M Ku«lLworth, vol. ii. p. 103. « RuBhworth, TOl. ii. pp. 136, 142, 189, 252.
=■ Rushworth, vol. ii. po. 1.58, 159, etc. Franlclyu, p. 412.
" Rushworth, vol. ii. pp. 202, 203.
192 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
The court of Star-chamber extended its authority ; and
it was a matter of complaint that it encroached upon the
jurisdiction of the other courts, imposing heavy fines and
inflicting severe punishment beyond the usual course of
justice. [1633.] Sir David Foulis was fined five thousand
pounds, chiefly because he had dissuaded a friend from com-
pounding with the commissioners of knighthood.*"
Prynne, a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, had written an
enormous quarto of a thousand pages, which he called
" Histrio-Mastyx." Its professed purpose was to decry
stage-plays, comedies, interludes, music, dancing ; but the
author likewise took occasion to declaim against hunting,
public festivals, Christmas-keeping, bonfires, and May-poles.
His zeal against all these levities, he says, was first moved
by observing that plays sold better than the choicest ser-
mons, and that they were frequently printed on finer paper
than the Bible itself. Besides, that the players were often
Papists, and desperately wicked ; the play-houses, he affirms,
are Satan's chapels, the play-haunters little better than in-
carnate devils, and so many steps in a dance so many paces
to hell. The chief crime of Nero he represents to have been
his frequenting and acting of plays ; and those who nobly
conspired his death were principally moved to it, as he
affirms, by their indignation at that enormity. The rest of
his thousand pages is of a like strain. He had obtained a
license from Archbishop Abbot's chaplain, yet was he in-
dicted in the Star-chamber as a libeller. It was thought
somewhat hard that general invectives against plays should
be interpreted into satires against the king and queen merely
because they frequented these amusements, and because the
queen sometimes acted a part in pastorals and interludes
which were represented at court. The author, it must be
owned, had in plainer terms blamed the hierarchy, the cer-
emonies, the innovations in religious worship, and the new
superstitions introduced by Laud ; " and this, probably, to-
gether with the obstinacy and petulance of his behavior be-
fore the Star-chamber, was the reason whv his sentence was
so severe. He was condemned to be put from the bar ; to
" Eushworth, vol. ii. pp. 215, 216, etc.
«i The music in the churches he afflrmed not to be the noise o£ men, hut a
bleatnig of brute beasts ; choristers bellow the tenor, as it were oxen ; bark a
counterpart, as it were a kennel o£ doga ; roar out a treble, as it were a sort of
bulls ; and grunt out a bass, as it were a number of hogs ; Christmas, as it is kept,
18 tlie devil B Christmas ; and Prynne employed a great number of paaes to per-
suade men to affect Ihe name of Puritan, as if Christ had been a Puritan ; and so
lie saith in his Index.— Itushworth, vol. ii. p. 223.
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 193
stand on the pillory in two places, "Westminster and Cheap-
side ; to lose both his ears, one in each place ; to pay five
thousand pounds fine to the king, and to be imprisoned
during life.*^
This same Prynne was a great hero among the Puritans,
and it was chiefly with a view of mortifying that sect that,
though of an honorable profession, he was condemned by
the Star-chamber to so ignominious a punishment. The
thorough-paced Puritans were distinguishable by the sour-
ness and austerity of their manners, and by their aversion to
all pleasure and society.*' To inspire them with better humor
was certainly, both for their own sake and that of the public,
a laudable intention in the court; but whether pillories,
fines, and prisons were proper expedients for that purpose
may admit of some question.
Another expedient which the king tried in order to infuse
cheerfulness into the national devotion was not much more
successful. He renewed his father's edict for allowing sports
and recreations on Sunday to such as attended public wor-
ship ; and he ordered his proclamation for that purpose to
be publicly read by the clergy after divine service.** Those
who were puritanically affected refused obedience, and were
punished by suspension or deprivation. The differences be-
tween the sects were before sufiiciently great ; nor was it
necessary to widen them further by these inventions.
Some encouragement and protection, which the king
and the bishops gave to wakes, church-ales, bride-ales, and
other cheerful festivals of the common people, were the ob-
jects of like scandal to the Puritans.*^
This year Charles made a journey to Scotland, attended
by the court, in order to hold a Parliament there, and to
pass through the ceremony of his coronation. The nobility
and gentry of both kingdoms rivalled each other in express-
ing all duty and respect to the king, and in showing mutual
friendship and regard to each other. No one could have
suspected, from exterior appearances, that such dreadful
scenes were approaching.
One chief article of business (for it deserves the name)
which the king transacted in this Parliament was, besides
obtaining some supply, to procure authority for ordering
the habits of the clergymen.*' The act did not pass with-
« EuBhworth, Tol. ii. pp. 220, 221, etc. « Dugdale, p. 2.
" Euahworth, vol. ii. pp. 193, 459. Whitlooke, pp. 16, 17. Franklyn, p. 43T.
*> Euahworth, vol. ii. pp. 191, 192. May, p. 2. " Euahworth, vol. ii. p. 183.
Vol. IV.— 13.
194 HISTOKT OP ENGLAND.
out opposition and difficulty. The dreadful surplice was
before men's eyes; and they apprehended with some reason
that, under sanction of this law, it would soon be introduced
among them. Though the king believed that his preroga-
tive entitled him to a power in general of directing what-
ever belonged to the exterior government of the Church,
this was deemed a matter of too great importance to be
ordered without the sanction of a jjopular statute.
Immediately after the king's return to England, he
heard of Archbishop Abbot's death ; and, without delay, he
conferred that dignity on his favorite, Laud, who by this
accession of authority was now enabled to maintain ecclesi-
astical discipline with greater rigor, and to aggravate the
general discontent in the nation.
Laud obtained the bishopric of London for his friend
Juxon ; and, about a year after the death of Sir Richard
Weston, created Earl of Portland, had interest enough to
engage the king to make that prelate high treasurer. Jux-
on was a person of great integrity, mildness, and humanity,
and endued with a good understanding.^'^ Yet did this last
promotion give general offence. His birth and character
were deemed too obscure for a man raised to one of the
highest offices of the crown ; and the clergy, it was thought,
were already too much elated by former instances of the
king's attachment to them, and needed not this further en-
couragement to assume dominion over the laity .^* The
Puritans, likewise, were much dissatisfied with Juxon, not-
withstanding his eminent virtues, because he was a lover of
profnne field-sports and hunting,
[1634.] Ship-money was now introduced. The first
writs of this kind had been directed to seaport towns only ;
but ship-money was at this time levied on the whole king-
dom ; and each county was rated at a particular sum, which
was afterwards assessed upon individuals.*' The amount
of the whole tax was very moderate, little exceeding two
hundred thousand pounds ; it was levied upon the people
with equality; the money was entirely expended on the
navy, to the great honor and advantage of the kingdom. As
England had no military force, while all the other powers
of Europe _ were strongly armed, a fleet seemed absolutely
necessary for her security ; and it was obvious that a navy
" "Whitlocke, p. 23. Clarendon, Tol. i. p. oo.
*8 Clarendon, vol, i. p. 07. May, p, 2.'^,
*" Eusliworth, -vol . ii. pp. 257, 258, etc.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 195
must be built and equipped at leisure, during peace ; nor
could it possibly be fitted out on a sudden emergency, when
the danger became urgent. Yet all these considerations
could not reconcile the people to the imposition. It was
entirely arbitrary ; by the same right any other tax might
be imposed ; and men thought a powerful fleet, though very
desirable both for the credit and safety of the kingdom, but
an unequal recompense for their liberties, which, they ajj-
prehended, were thus sacrificed to the obtaining of it.
England, it must be owned, was, in this respect, unhappy
in its present situation, that the king had entertained a very
different idea of the constitution from that which began in
general to prevail among his subjects. He did not regard
national privileges as so sacred and inviolable that nothing
but the most extreme necessity could Justify an infringe-
ment of thenii He considered himself as the supreme
magistrate, to whose care Heaven, by his birthright, had
committed his peoole, whose duty it was to provide for
their security and happiness, and who was vested with
ample discretionary powers for that salutary purpose. If
the observance of ancient laws and customs was consistent
with the present convenience of government, he thought
himself obliged to comply with that rule, as the easiest, the
safest, and what procured the most prompt and willing
obedience. But when a change of circumstances, especially
if derived from the obstinacy of the people, required a new
plan of administration, national privileges, he thought, must
yield to supreme power ; nor could any order of the state
oppose any right to the will of the sovereign directed to
the good of the public.^" That these principles of govern-
ment were derived from the uniform tenor of the English
laws, it would be rash to affirm. The fluctuating nature of
the constitution, the impatient humor of the people, and the
variety of events had, no doubt, in different ages produced
exceptions and contradictions. These observations alone
may be established on both sides, that the appearances were
sufficiently strong in favor of the king to apologize for his
following such maxims ; and that public liberty must be so
precarious under this exorbitant prerogative as to render an
opposition not only excusable, but laudable, in the people.^^
Some laws had been enacted during the reign of Henry
VIL against depopulation, or the converting of arable lands
™ llushworth, voj. iv. pp. 635, 542.
" See note [P] at the end of the volume.
196 HISTORY or ENGLAND.
into pasture. By a decree of the Star-chamber, Sir Anthony
Roper was fined four thousand pounds for an offence of that
nature.^^ This severe sentence was intended to terrify others
into composition, and above thirty thousand pounds were
levied by that expedient.^' Like compositions, or, in default
of them, heavy fines, were required for encroachments on
the king's forests, whose bounds, by decrees deemed arbi-
trary, were extended much beyond what was usual.^ The
bounds of one forest, that of Rockingham, were increased
from six miles to sixty.^^ The same refractory humor which
made the people refuse to the king voluntary supplies dis-
posed them with better reason to murmur against these
irregular methods of taxation.
Morley was fined ten thousand pounds for reviling, chal-
lenging, and striking, in the court of Whitehall, Sir George
Theobald, one of the king's servants.^* This fine was thought
exorbitant ; but whether it was compounded, as was usual
in fines imposed by the Star-chamber, we are not informed.
Allison had reported that the Archbishop of York had
incurred the king's displeasure by asking a limited tolera^
tion for the Catholics, and an allowance to build some
churches for the exercise of their religion. For this slan-
der against the archbishop he was condemned, in the Star-
chamber, to be fined one thousand pounds, to be committed
to prison, to be bound to his good behavior during life, to
be whipped, and to be set on the pillory at Westminster
and in three other towns in England. Robins, who had
been an accomplice in the guilt, was condemned by a sen-
tence equally severe.*' Such events are rather to be con-
sidered as rare and detached incidents, collected by the
severe scrutiny of historians, than as proofs of the prevail-
ing genius of the king's administration, which seems to have
been more gentle and equitable than that of most of his
predecessors. There were, on the whole, only five or six
such instances of rigor during the course of fifteen years
which elapsed before the meeting of the Long Parliament.
And it is also certain that scandal against the great, though
seldom prosecuted at present, is, however, in the eye of the
law, a great crime, and subjects the offender to very heavy
penalties.
There are other instances of the high respect paid to the
^2 RuBliworth, vol. ii. p. 2t'0. Vol. iii. App. p. 106.
153 RuBhwortli, vol. iii. p. 333. Fraiiklyn, p. 478. « May p. 16.
^^ Strafford's Letters and Despatnlies, vol. ii. p. 117. *
« RusUworth, vol. ii. p. 270. m Eushworth, vol. ii. p. 269.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. Iii7
hobility and to the great in that age — when the powers of
monarchy, though disputed, still maintained themselves in
their pristine vigor. Clarendon °' tells us a pleasant incident
to this purpose : A waterman belonging to a man of quality,
having a squabble with a citizen about his fare, showed his
badge, the crest of his master, which happened to be a swan,
and thence insisted on better treatment from the citizen.
But the other replied cai'elessly that he did not trouble his
head about that goose. For this offence he was summoned
before the marshal's court; was fined, as having oppro-
briously defamed the nobleman's crest, by calling the swan
a goose ; and was, in effect, reduced to beggary.
Sir Richard Granvile had thought himself ill-used by the
Earl of Suffolk in a lawsuit, and he was accused before the
Star-chamber of having said of that nobleman that he was a
base lord. The evidence against him was somewhat lame ;
yet for this slight offence, insufficiently proved, he was con-
demned to pay a fine of eight thousand pounds — one half to
the earl, the other to the king.''
Sir George Markham, following a chase where Lord
Darcy's huntsman was exercising his hounds, kept closer to
the dogs than was thought proper by the huntsman, who,
besides other rudeness, gave him foul language, which Sir
George returned with a stroke of his whip. The fellow
threatened to complain to his master. The knight replied,
if his master should justify such insolence he would serve
him in the same manner, or words to that effect. Sir George
was summoned before the Star-chamber, and fined ten
thousand pounds. " So fine a thing was it in those days to
be a lord ! " a natural reflection of Lord Lansdown's in re-
lating this incident.™ The people, in vindicating their
liberties from the authority of the crown, threw off also the
yoke of the nobility. It is proper to remark that this
last incident happened early in the reign of James. The
present practice of the Star-chamber was far from being an
innovation, though the present disposition of the people
made them repine more at this servitude.
[1635.] Charles had imitated the example of Elizabeth
and James, and had issued proclamations forbidding the
landed gentlemen and the nobility to live idly in London,
''8 Life of Clarendon, vol. i. p. 72, co Lord Lansdown, p. 514.
"" Lord Lansdown, p. 5X5. This story is told diiferently in Hobart's Reports,
p. 120. It there appears that Markham was lined only live hundred pounds, and
very deservedly, for he gave the lit and wrote a challenge to Lord Darcy, James
was anxious to discourage the practice of duelling, which was then prevalent.
198 HISTORY OP ENGLAND,
and ordering them to retire to their country-seats.^* For
disobedience to this edict many were indicted by the attor-
ney-general, and were fined in the Star-chamber.'''' This
occasioned discontents ; and the sentences were complained
of as illegal. But if proclamations had authority, of which
nobody pretended to doubt, must they not be put in execu-
tion ? In no instance, I must confess, does it more evidently
appear what confused and uncertain ideas were, during that
age, entertained concerning the English constitution.
Ray, having exported f uller's-earth contrary to the king's
proclamation, was, besides the pillory, condemned in tlie
Star-chamber to a fine of two thousand pounds."' Like fines
were levied on Terry, Eman, and others for disobeying a
proclamation which forbade the exportation of gold.'^^ In
order to account for the subsequent convulsions, even these
incidents are not to be overlooked as frivolous or contempt-
ible. Such severities were afterwards magnified into the
greatest enormities.
There remains a proclamation of this year prohibiting
hackney-coaches from standing in the street."^ We are told
that there were not above twenty coaches of that kind in
London. There are at present near eight hundred.
[1636.] The effect of ship-money began now to appear.
A formidable fleet of sixty sail, the greatest that England
had ever known, was equipped under the Earl of Northum-
berland, who had orders to attack the herring-busses of the
Dutch, which fished in what were called the British seas.
The Dutch were content to pay thirty thousand pounds for
a license during this year. They openly denied, however,
the claim of dominion in the seas beyond the friths, bays,
and shores ; and it may be questioned whether the laws of
nations warrant any further pretensions.
This year the king sent a squadron against Sallee, and,
with ihe assistance of the Emperor of Morocco, destroyed
that receptacle of pirates, by whom the English commer<;e,
and even the English coasts, had long been infested.
[1637.] Burton, a divine, and Bastwick, a physician,
were tried in the Star-chamber for seditious and schismatioal
libels, and were condemned to the same punishment that
had been inflicted on Prynne. Prynne himself was tried
for a new offence ; and, together with another fine of five
»' Eushworth, vol. ii. p. 144. os Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 288.
la Rushworth, vol. ii. p. ,S48. 04 Kushwonh, vol. ii. p. 350-
«5 liuBhworth, vol. ii. p. 316. .
HISTORY OP EI5GLAJID. 199
thousand pounas, was oondemned to lose what remained of
his ears. Besides that these writers had attacked with
great severity, and even an intemperate zeal, the ceremonies,
rites, and government of the Church, the very answers
which they gave into the court were so full of contumacy and
invectives against the prelates that no lawyer could be pre-
vailed on to sign them.*° The rigors, however, which they
underwent, being so unworthy men of their profession, gave
general offence ; and the patience, or rather alacrity, with
which they suffered increased still further the indignation
of the public." The severity of the Star-chamber, which
was generally ascribed to Laud's passionate disposition, was,
perhaps, in itself somewhat blamable, but will naturally to
us appear enormous who enjoy, in the utmost latitude, that
liberty of the press which is esteemed so necessary in
every monarchy confined by strict legal limitations. But as
these limitations were not regularly fixed during the age of
Charles, nor at any time before, so was this liberty totally
unknown, and was generally deemed, as well as religious
toleration, incompatible with all good government. No age
or nation among the moderns had ever set an example of
such an indulgence; and it seems unreasonable to judge of
the measures embraced during one period by the maxims
which prevail in another.
Burton, in his book where he complained of innovations,
mentioned, among others, that a certain Wednesday had
been appointed for a fast, and that the fast was ordered to
be celebrated without any sermons.^* The intention, as he
pretended, of that novelty was, by the example of a fast
without sermons, to suppress all the Wednesday's lectures
in London. It is observable that the Church of Rome and
that of England, being both of them lovers of form and
cei-emony and order, are more friends to prayer than
preaching; while the puritanical sectaries, who find that
the latter method of address, being directed to a numerous
audience present and visible, is more inflaming and animat-
ing, have always regarded it as the chief part of divine ser-
vice. Such circumstances, though minute, it may not be
improper to transmit to posterity, that those who are curi-
ous of tracing the history of the human mind may remark
how far its several singularities coincide in different ages.
«« Kushworth, vol. ii. pp. -381, 382, etc. State Trials, TOl. v- p. 66.
" State Trials, vol. v. p. 80.
«« State Trials, vol. v. p. 74. Franklyn, p. 839.
20O HISTOEY OP ENGLAND.
Certain zealots had erected themselves into a society for
buying in of impropriations and transferring them to the
Church ; and great sums of money had been bequeathed to
the society for these purposes. But it was soon observed
that the only use which they made of their funds was to
establish lectures in all the considerable churches — men who,
without being subjected to episcopal authority, employed
themselves entirely in preaching and spreading the fire of
Puritanism. Laud took care, by a decree which was passed
in the court of exchequer, and which was much complained
of, to abolish this society and stop their progress.^' It was,
however, still observed that throughout England the lec-
turers were all of them puritanically affected ; and from
them the clergymen, who contented themselves with read-
ing prayers and homilies to the people, commonly received
the reproachful appellation of " dumb dog."
The Puritans, restrained in England, shipped themselves
off for America, and laid there the foundations of a govern-
ment which possessed all the liberty, both civil and religious,
of which they found themselves bereaved in their native
country. But their enemies, unwilling that they should
anywhere enjoy ease and contentment, and dreading per-
haps the dangerous consequences of so disaffected a colony,
prevailed on the king to issue a proclamation debarring these
devotees access even into those inhospitable deserts,'" Eight
ships, lying in the Thames, and ready to sail, were detained
by order of the council ; and in these were embarked Sir
Arthur Hazelrig, John Hambden, John Pym, and Oliver
Cromwell," who had resolved forever to abandon their na-
tive country and fly to the other extremity of the globe,
where they might enjoy lectures and discourses of any
length or form which pleased them. The king had after-
wards full leisure to repent this exercise of his authority. ,
The Bishop of Norwich, by rigorously insisting on uni-
formity, had banished many industrious ti-adesmen from tiiat
city, and chased them into Holland.'^ The Dutch began to
be more intent on commerce than on orthodoxy; and
Suffe5nSTLaiJ,%"2?j;2ll"' '"^ '^""°*^' "■ ''■ ^'^'°^ "' *^« ^'^ ■"«»
" Kushworth, Tol. ii. pp. 409, 418.
'■ MathCT'8 History of New England, bk.i. Bngdale. Bates. Hutchinson's
Histoij of MaBsachusetts Bay, vol. i. p. 42. This last-quoted author puts the fact
beyond controversy. And it is a cunons fact, as well with regard to the charac
ters of the men as of the tames. C:m any one doubt that the eiisuino quarrel wiw
almost entirely theological, not political ? Whatmight be expected" of the popu-
lace, when such was the character of the most enlightened leaders ?
« May, p. 82. °
HISTOBT OF ENGLAiro. 201
thought that the knowledge of useful arts and obedience to
the laws formed a good citizen, though attended with errors
in subjects where it is not allowable for human nature to
expect any positive truth or certainty.
Complaints about this time were made that the Petition
of Right was in some instances violated, and that, upon a
commitment by the king and council, bail or releasement
had been refused to Jennings, Pargiter, and Danvers.'^
Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, a man of spirit and learn-
ing, a popular prelate, and who had been lord keeper, was
fined ten thousand pounds by the Star-chamber, committed
to the Tower during the king's pleasure, and suspended
from his oiRce. This severe sentence was founded on frivol-
ous pretences, and was more ascribed to Laud's vengeance
than to any guilt of the bishop.'* Laud, however, had owed
his first promotion to the good offices of that prelate with
King James. But so implacable was the haughty primate
that he raised up a new prosecution against Williams on the
strangest pretence imaginable. In order to levy the fine
above mentioned, some officers had been sent to seize all the
furniture and books of his episcopal palace of Lincoln ; and,
in rummaging the house, they found in a corner some
neglected letters, which had been thrown by as useless.
These letters had been written by one OsbaldistonCj a school-
master, and were directed to Williams. Mention was there
made of " a little great man ; " and in another passage the
same person was denominated " a little urchin." By infer-
ences and constructions, these epithets were applied to
Laud ; and on no better foundation was Williams tried
anew, as having received scandalous letters and not discov-
ering that private correspondence. For this offence an-
other fine of eight thousand pounds was levied on him.
Osbaldistone was likewise brought to trial and condemned
to pay a fine of five thousand pounds, and to have his ears
nailed to the pillory before his own school. He saved him-
self by flight ; and left a note in his study, wherein he said
"that he was gone beyond Canterbury.""
These prosecutions of Williams seem to have been the
most iniquitous measure pursued by the court during the
time that the use of parliaments was suspended. Williams
had been indebted for all his fortune to the favor of James ;
but having quarrelled, first with Buckingham, then with
's Eushworth, vol. ii. p. 414- " Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 416, etc.
's Eushworth, vol. ii. p. 803, etc. Whitlocke, p. 25.
202 HISTOET OP ENGLAND.
Laud, he threw himself into the country party, and with
great firmness and vigor opposed all the measures of the
king. A creature of the court to become its obstinate
enemy, a bishop to countenance Puritans — these circum-
stances excited indignation, and engaged the ministers in
those severe measures. Not to mention what some writers
relate, that, before the sentence was pronounced against
him, Williams was offered a pardon upon his submission,
which he refused to make. The court was apt to think
that so refractory a spirit must by any expedient be broken
and subdued.
In a former trial which Williams underwent '^ (for these
were not the first), there was mentioned, in court, a story
which, as it discovers the genius of parties, may be worth
relating. Sir John Lambe, urging him to prosecute the
Puritans, the prelate asked what sort of people these same
Puritans were ? Sir John replied " that to the world they
seemed to be such as would not swear, whore, or be drunk ;
but they would lie, cozen, and deceive ; that they would
frequently hear two sermons a day, and repeat them too,
and that sometimes they would fast all day long." This
character must be conceived to be satirical ; yet it may be
allowed that that sect was more averse to such irregularities
as proceed from the excess of gayety and pleasure than to
those enormities which are the most destructive of society.
The former were opposite to the very genius and spirit of
their religion ; the latter were only a transgression of its
precepts ; and it was not difficult for a gloomy enthusi.ast to
convince himself that a strict observance of the one would
atone for any violation of the other.
In 1632, the treasurer, Portland, had insisted, with the
vintners, that they should submit to a tax of a penny a quart
upon all the wine which they retailed ; but they rejected
the demand. In order to punish them, a decree suddenly,
without much inquiry or examination, passed in the Star-
chamber prohibiting them to sell or dress victuals in their
houses."'' Two years after, they were questioned for the
breach of this decree ; and in order to avoid punishment, they
agreed to lend the king six thousand pounds. Being threat-
ened, during the subsequent years, with fines and prosecu-
tions, they at last compounded the matter, and submitted
to pay half of that duty which was at first demanded of
™ Eushworth, vol, ii. p. 416.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 203
themJ' It required little foresight to perceive that the
king's right of issuing proclanaations must, if pi'osecuted,
draw on a power of taxation.
Lilburne was accused before the Star-chamber of pub-
lishing and dispersing seditious pamphlets. He was ordered
to be examined ; but refused to take the oath usual in that
court, that he would answer interrogatories even though
they might lead him to accuse himself. For this contempt,
as it was interpreted, he was condemned to be whipped,
pilloried, and imprisoned. While he was whipped at the
cart, and stood on the pillory, he harangued the populace,
and declaimed violently against the tyranny of bishops.
From his pockets also he scattered pamphlets, said to be
seditious, because they attacked the hierarchy. The Star-
chamber, which was sitting at that very time, ordered him
immediately to be gagged. He ceased not, however, though
both gagged and pilloried, to stamp with his foot and ges-
ticulate, in order to show the people that, if he had it in his
power, he would still harangue them. This behavior gave
fresh provocation to the Star-chamber ; and they condemned
him to be imprisoned in a dungeon, and to be loaded with
irons.'' It was found difficult to break the spirits of men
who placed both their honor and their conscience in suffer-
ing.
The jealousy of the Church appeared in another instance
less tragical. Archy, the king's fool, who by his office had
the privilege of jesting on his master and the whole court,
happened unluckily to try his wit upon Land, who was too
sacred a person to be played* with. News having arrived
from Scotland of the first commotions excited by the liturgy,
Archy, seeing the primate pass by, called to him, "Who's
fool now, my lord?" For this offence Archy was ordered,
by sentence of the council, to have his coat pulled over his
head, and to be dismissed the king's service.*"
Here is another instance of that rigorous subjection in
which all men were held by Laud. Some young gentlemen
of Lincoln's-inn, heated by their cups, having drunk confu-
sion to the archbishop, were, at his instigation, cited before
the Star-chamber. They applied to the Earl of Dorset for
protection. " Who bears witness against you ? " said Dorset.
" One of the drawers," they said. " Where did he stand
when you were supposed to drink this health ? " subjoined
'8 Rushworth, vol. ii. p. ioL. '" Rushwortli, vol. ii. pp. 465, 466, 467.
89 Eushwoitb, vol. ii. p. 470. Welwood, p. 278.
204 HISTOET OF ENGLAiro.
the earl. " He was at the door," they replied, " going out of
the room." " Tush ! " he cried, " the draper was mistaken ;
you drank confusion to the Archbishop of Canterbury's
enemies ; and the fellow was gone before you pronounced
the last word." This hint supplied the young gentlemen
with a new method of defence ; and, being advised by
Dorset to behave with great humility and great submission
to the primate, the modesty of their carriage, the ingenuity
of their apology, with the patronage of that noble lord,
saved them from any severer punishment than a reproof
and admonition, with which they were dismissed.*^
This year John Hambden acquired, by his spirit and
courage, universal popularity throughout the nation, and
has merited great renown with posterity for the bold stand
which he made in defence of the laws and liberties of his
country. After the imposing of ship-money, Charles, in
order to discourage all opposition, had proposed this question
to the judges : " Whether in a case of necessity, for the de-
fence of the kingdom, he might not impose this taxation ;
and whether he was not sole judge of the necessity ? " These
guardians of law and liberty replied, with great complai-
sance, " that in a case of necessity he might impose that tax-
ation, and that he was sole judge of the necessity." ''^ Hamb-
den had been rated at twenty shillings for an estate which
he possessed in the county of Buckingham ; yet, notwith-
standing this declared opinion of the judges, notwithstand-
ing the great power and sometimes rigorous maxims of the
crown, notwithstanding the small prospect of relief from
Parliament, he resolved, ratlter than tamely submit to so
illegal an imposition, to stand a legal prosecution, and ex-
pose himself to all the indignation of the court. The case
was argued during twelve days in the Exchequer chamber
before all the judges of England ; and the nation regarded
with the utmost anxiety every circumstance of this cele-
brated trial. The event was easily foreseen ; but the prin-
ciples and reasonings and behavior of the parties engaged ift
the trial were much canvassed and inquired into, and noth-
ing could equal the favor paid to the one side except the
hatred which attended the other.
It was urged by Hambden's counsel and by his partisans
in the nation that the plea of necessity was in vain intro-
duced into a trial of law, since it was the nature of necessity
^ 81 Rushworth, vol. iii. p. 180.
ea Kuahworth, vol. ii. p. 365. Whitlooke, p. 21.
HISTOET OP ENGLAND, 205
to abolish all law, and, by irresistible yiolence, to dissolve
all the weaker and more artificial ties of human society.
Not only the prince in cases of extreme distress, is exempted
from the ordinary rules of administration, all orders of men
are then levelled ; and any individual may consult the pub-
lic safety by any expedient which his situation enables him
to employ. But to produce so violent an effect, and so
hazardous to every community, an ordinary danger or dif-
ficulty is not sufficient, much less a necessity which is merely
fictitious and pretended. Where the peril is urgent and
extreme, it will be palpable to every member of the society ;
and, though all ancient rules of government are in that case
abrogated, men will readily of themselves submit to that
irregular authority which is exerted for their preservation.
But what is there in common between such suppositions
and the present condition of the nation ? England enjoys
a profound peace with all her neighbors, and, what is more,
all her neighbors are engaged in furious and bloody wars
among themselves, and by their mutual enmities further in-
sure her tranquillity. The very writs themselves which are
issued for the levying of ship-money contradict the supposi-
tion of necessity, and pretend only that the seas are infested
with pirates — a slight and temporary inconvenience which
may well await a legal supply from Parliament. The writs
likewise allow several months for equipping the ships, which
proves a very calm and deliberate species of necessity, and
one that admits of delay much beyond the forty days req-
uisite for summoning that assembly. It is strange, too,
that an extreme necessity which is always apparent and
usually comes to a sudden crisis should now have continued
without interruption for near four years, and should have
remained during so long a time invisible to the whole king-
dom. And as to the pretension that the king is sole judge
. of the necessity, what is this but to subject all the privileges
of the nation to his arbitrary will and pleasure ? To expect
that the public will be convinced by such reasoning must
aggravate the general indignation by adding to violence
against men's persons and their property so cruel a mockery
of their understanding.
In vain are precedents of ancient writs produced : these
writs, when examined, are only found to require the seaports,
sometimes at their own charge, sometimes at the charge of
the counties, to send their ships for the defence of the nation.
.Even the prerogative which' empowered the crown to issue
206 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. '
such writs is abolished, and its exercise almost entirely dis-
continued from the time of Edward III. ; ^^ and all the
authority which remained or was afterwards exercised was
to press ships into the public service, to be paid for by the
public. How wide are these precedents from a power of
obliging the people, at their own charge, to build new ships,
to victual and pay them for the public — nay, to famish
money to the crown for that purpose ! What security
either against the further extension of this claim or against
diverting to other purposes the public money so levied ?
The plea of necessity would warrant any other taxation as
well as that of ship-money; wherever any difficulty shall
occur, the pdministration, instead of endeavoring to elude or
overcome it by gentle and prudent measures, will instantly
represent it as a reason for infringing all ancient laws and
institutions ; and if such maxims and such practices prevail,
what has become of national liberty? — what authority is left
to the great charter, to the statutes, and to that very Peti-
tion of Right which, in the present reign, had been so sol-
emnly enacted by the concurrence of the wliole legislature ?
The defenceless condition of the kingdom while unpro-
vided with a navy ; the inability of the king, from his estab-
lished revenues, with the utmost care and frugality, to
equip and maintain one ; the impossibility of obtaining, on
reasonable terms, any voluntary supply from Parliament —
all these are reasons of state, not topics of law. If these
reasons appear to the king so urgent as to dispense with
the legal rules of government, let him enforce his edicts by
his court of Star-chamber, theproper instrument of irregular
and absolute power ; not prostitute the character of his
judges by a decree which is not, and cannot possibly be,
legal. By this means the boundaries, at least, will be kept
more distinct between ordinary law and extraordinary exer-
tions of prerogative ; and men will know that the national
constitution is only suspended during a present and difficult
emergency, but has not undergone a total and fundamental
alteration.
Notwithstanding these reasons, the prejudiced judges,
four ** excepted, gave sentence in favor of the crown.
Hambden, however, obtained by the trial the end for which
he had so generously sacrificed his safety and his quiet :
" state Trials, vol. v. pp. 245, 255.
" See State Trials, art. Ship-money, -whieh contains tie speeches of lour
Judges in favor of Hambden.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 207
the people were roused from their lethargy, and became
sensible of the danger to which their liberties were ex-
posed. These national questions were canvassed in every
company ; and the more they were examined, the more
evidently did it appear to many that liberty was totally
subverted, and an unusual and arbitrary authority exer-
cised over the kingdom. Slavish principles, they said,
concur with illegal practices; ecclesiastical tyranny gives
aid to civil usurpation ; iniquitous taxes are supported by
arbitrary punishments ; and all the privileges of the nation,
transmitted through so many ages, secured by so many laws,
and purchased by the blood of so many heroes and pa-
triots, now lie prostrate at the feet of the monarch. What
though public peace and national industry increased the com-
merce and opulence of the kingdom ? This advantage was
temporary, and due alone, not to any encouragement given
by the crown, but to the spirit of the English, the remains
of their ancient freedom. What though the personal char-
acter of the king, amid all his misguided counsels, might
merit indulgence, or even praise ? He was but one man ;
and the privileges of the people, the inheritance of millions,
were too valuable to be sacrificed to his prejudices and mis-
takes. Such, or more severe, were the sentiments promoted
by a great party in the nation. No excuse on the king's
part, or alleviation, how reasonable soever, could be heark-
ened to or admitted; and to redress these grievances, a
Parliament was impatiently longed for ; or any other inci-
dent, however calamitous, that , might secure the people
against those oppressions which they felt, or the greater ills
which they apprehended, from the combined encroachments
of Church and State.
208 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
V
CHAPTER LIII.
DISCONTENTS IN SCOTLAND. INTEODUCTION OP THE CANONS
AND LITtJEGT. A TUMULT AT EDINBUEGH. THE COVE-
NANT. A GENERAL ASSEMBLY. EPISCOPACY ABOLISHED.
WAE. A PACIFICATION. EBNEWAL OF THE WAE. —
FOUETH ENGLISH PABLIAMENT. DISSOLUTION. DISCON-
TENTS IN ENGLAND. EOUT AT NEWBUEN. TEEATT OF
EIPPON. GEEAT COUNCIL OF THE PEERS.
[1637.] The grievances under which the English la-
bored, when considered in themselves, without regard to the
constitution, scarcely deserve the name ; nor were they
either burdensome on the people's properties or any way
shocking to the natural humanity of mankind. Even the
imposition of ship-money, independent of the consequences,
was a great and evident advantage to the public, by the ju-
dicious use which the king made of the money levied by that
expedient. And though it was justly apprehended that such
precedents, if patiently submitted to, would end in a total
disuse of parliaments and in the establishment of arbitrary
authority, Charles dreaded no opposition from the people,
who are not commonly much affected with consequences,
and require some striking motive to engage them in a resist-
ance of established government. All ecclesiastical affairs
were settled by law and uninterrupted precedents ; and the
XZ!hurch was become a considerable barrier to the power,
' both legal and illegal, of the crown. Peace too, industry,
commerce, opulency — nay, even justice and lenity of admin-
istration, notwithstanding some very few exceptions — all
these were enjoyed by the people ; and every other blessing
of government, except liberty, or rather the present exercise
• of liberty, and its proper security.^ It seemed probable,
therefore, that affairs might long have continued on the same
footing in England had it not been for the neighborhood of
/Scotland, a country more turbulent, and less disposed to
submission and obedience. It was thence the commotions
I Clarendon, pp. 74, 75. May, p. 18. Warwick, p. 62.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 209
first arose ; and it is thei-efoi-e time for us to return thither,
and to give an account of the state of affairs in that kingdom.
Though the pacific and not unskilful government of
James, and the great authority vi^hich he had acquired, had
much allayed the feuds among the great families, and had
established law and order throughout the kingdom, the Scot-
tish nobility were still possessed of the chief power and in-
fluence over the people. Their property was extensive ;
their hereditary jurisdictions and the feudal tenures in-
creased their authority ; and the attachment of the gentry
to the heads of families established a kind of voluntary ser-
vitude under the chieftains. Besides that long absence had
much loosened the king's connections with the nobility, who
resided chiefly at their country-seats, they were in general
at this time, though from slight causes, much disgusted
with the court. Charles, from the natural piety or super-
-stition xof his temper, was extremely attachedto the Ecclesi-
astics ; and as it is natural for men to persuade themselves
that their interest coincides with their inclination, he had
established it as a fixed maxim of policy to increase the
power and authority of that order.' The prelates, he thought,
established regularity and discipline among the clergy ; the
clergy inculcated obedience and loyalty among the people ;
and as that rank of men had no separate authority, and no
dependence but on the crown, the royal power, it would
seem, might, with the greater safety, be intrusted~in their
hands. Many of the prelates, therefore, were raised to the
chief dignities of the state ; ^ Sj)otswood, Archbishop of St.
Andrew's, was created chancellor ; nine of the bishops were
privy-councillors j the Bishop of Ross aspired to the ofiice
of treasurer; some of the prelates possessed places in the
exchequer ; and it was even endeavored to revive the first
institution of the college of justice, and to share equally be-
tween the clergy and laity the whole judicial authority.'
These advantages possessed by the Church, and which the
bishops did not always enjoy with suitable modesty, dis-
gusted the haughty nobility, who, deeming themselves much
superior in rank and quality to this new order of men, were
displeased to find themselves inferior in power and influence.
Interest joined itself to ambition, and begat a jealousy lest
the episcopal sees, which at the Reformation had been pil-
laged "by the nobles, should again be enriched at the expense
' Euehwortli, vol. ii. p. 386. May, p. 29.
' Guthry's Memoire, p. 14. Burnet's Mem. pp. 29, 30. x
Vol. IV.— 14
210 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
of that order. By a most useful and beneficial law, the im-
propriations had already been ravished from the great men :
competent salaries had been assigned to the impoverished
clergy from the tithes of each parish ; and what remained,
the proprietor of the land was empowered to purchase at a
low valuation.* The king likewise, warranted by ancient
law and practice, had declared for a general resumption of
all crown lands alienated by his predecessors ; and though
he took no step towards the execution of this project, the very
pretensions to such power had excited jealousy and discon-
tent.^
Notwithstanding the tender regard which Charles bore
to the whole Church, he had been able, in Scotland, to ac-
quire only the affection of the superior rank among the
clergy. The ministers in general equalled, if not exceeded,
the nobility in their prejudices against the court, against the
prelates, and against episcopal authority.^ Though the es-
tablishment of the hierarchy might seem advantageous to
the inferior clergy, both as it erected dignities to which all
of them might aspire, and as it bestowed a lustre on the
whole body, and allured men of family into it, these views
had no influence on the Scottish ecclesiastics. In the pres-
ent disposition of men's minds, there was another circum-
stance which drew consideration and counterbalanced power
and riches, the usual foundations of distinction among men ;
and that was the fervor of piety, and the rhetoric, however
! barbarous, of religious lectures and discourses. Checked by
the prelates in the license of preaching, the clergy regarded
episcopal jurisdiction botli as a tyranny and a usurpation,
and maintained a parity among ecclesiastics to be a divine
privilege which no human law could alter or infringe. While
such ideas prevailed, the most moderate exercise of author-
ity would have given disgust, much more that extensive
power which the king's indulgence encouraged the prelates
/to assume. The jurisdiction of presbyteries, synods, and
/ other democratical courts was, in a manner, abolished by the
\ bishops, and the general assembly itself had not been sum-
moned for several years.' A new oath was arbitrai-ily im-
posed on intrants, by which they swore to observe the ar-
ticles of Perth, and submit to the liturgy and canons. And,
in a word, the whole system of Church government, during
* King's Declaration, p. 7. Franklyn, p. 611.
» King's Declaration, p. 6. o Burnet's Mem. pp. 29. 30. ,
' May, p. 29. ^^ '
"f
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 211
a course of thirty years, had been changed by means of the
innovations introduced by James and Charles.
The people, under the influence of the nobility and
clergy, could not fail to partake of the discontents which
prevailed among these two orders ; and where real grounds
of complaint were wanting, they greedily laid hold of im-,
aginary ones. The same horror against popery with which /
the English Puritans were possessed was observable among
the populace in Scotland ; and among these, as being more
uncultivated and uncivilized, seemed rather to be inflamed
into a higher degree of ferocity. The genius of religion
which prevailed in the court and among the prelates was of
an opposite nature ; and having some affinity to the Romish
worship, led them to mollify, as much as possible, these
severe prejudices, and to speak of the Catholics in more
charitable language and with more reconciling expressions.
From this foundation, a panic fear of popery was easily
raised ; and every new ceremony or ornament introduced
into divine service was part of that great mystery of iniquity
which, from the encouragement of the king and the bishops,
was to overspread the nation.^ The few innovations which
James had made were considered as preparatives to this
grand design ; and the further alterations attempted by
Charles were represented as a plain declaration of his inten-
tions. Through the whole course of this reign nothing had
more fatal influence, in both kingdoms, than this groundless
apprehension whidh with so much industry was propagated
and with so much credulity was embraced by all ranks of
men.
Amid these dangerous complaints and terrors of relig-
ious innovation, the civil and ecclesiastical liberties of the
nation were imagined, and with some reason, not to be alto-
gether free from invasion.
The establishment of the high commission by James,
without any authority of law, seemed a considerable en-
croachment of the crown, and erected the most dangerous
and arbitrary of all courts by a method equally dangerous
and arbitrary. All the steps towards the settlement of
episcopacy had, indeed, been taken with consent of Parlia-
ment : the articles of Perth were confirmed in 1621 ; in
1633 the king had obtained a general ratification of every
ecclesiastical establishment. But these laws had less au-
thority with the nation, as they were known to have passed
' Burnet'a Mem. pp. 29, 30, 31.
212 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
contrary to tbe sentiments even of those who voted for
them, and were in reality extorted by the authority and im-
portunity of the sovereign. The means, however, which
^both James and Charles had emijloyed in order to influence
the Parliament were entirely regular ; and no reasonable
pretence had been afforded for representing these laws as
null or invalid.
ij But there prevailed among the greater part of the na-
tion another principle, of the most important and most
dangerous nature, and which, if admitted, destroyed entirely
the validity of all such statutes. The ecclesiastical authority
was supposed totally independent of the civil ; and no act
of Parliament, nothing but the consent of the Church itself,
was represented as sufficient ground for the introduction of
any change in religious worship or discipline. And though
James had obtained the vote of assemblies for receiving
episcopacy and his new rites, it must be confessed that such
irregularities had prevailed in constituting these ecclesiasti-
cal courts, and such violence in conducting them, that there
were some grounds for denying the authority of all their
acts. Charles, sensible that an extorted consent, attended
with such invidious circumstances, would rather be preju-
dicial to his measures, had wholly laid aside the use of as-
semblies, and was resolved, in conjunction with the bishops,
to govern the Church by an authority to which he thought
himself fully entitled and which he believed inherent in the
crown.
I The king's great aim was to complete the work so hap-
pily begun by his father — to establish discipline upon a reg-
ular system of canons, to introduce a liturgy into public
worship, and to render the ecclesia.stical government of all
j; his kingdoms regular and uniform. Some views of policy
'might move him to this undertaking ; but his chief motives
were derived from principles of zeal and conscience.
The canons for establishing ecclesiastical jurisdiction
were promulgated in 1635 ; and were received by the na^
tion, though without much appearing opposition, yet with
great inward apprehension and discontent. Men felt dis
pleasure at seeing the royal authority highly exalted by
them, and represented as absolute and uncontrollable.
They saw these speculative principles reduced to practice,
and a whole body of ecclesiastical laws established without
any previous consent either of Church or State.' They
» Clarendon, vol. i. p. 106
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 213
dreaded lest^ by a parity of reason, like arbitrary authority,
from like pretences and principles, would be assumed in
civil matters ; they remarked that the delicate boundaries
which separate Church and State were already passed, and
many civil ordinances established by the canons, under
color of ecclesiastical institutions ; and they were apt to
deride the negligence with which these important edicts had
been compiled, when they found that the new liturgy or
service-book was everywhere, under severe penalties, en-
joined by them, though it had not yet been composed or
published.^" It was, however, soon expected ; and in the
reception of it, as the people are always most affected by
what is external and exposed to the senses, it was appre-
hended that the chief difficulty would consist.
The liturgy which the king, from his own authority,
imposed on Scotland was copied from that of England ;
but lest a servile imitation might shook the pride of his an-
cient kingdom, a few alterations, in order to save appear-"
ances, were made in it; and in that shape it was trans- |
mitted to the bishops at Edinburgh." But the Soots had
universally entertained a notion that, though riches and
worldly glory had been shared out to them with a sparing
hand, they could boast of spiritual treasures more abundant
and more genuine than were enjoyed by any nation under
heaven. Even their southern neighbors, they thought,
though separated from Rome, still retained a great tincture
of the primitive pollution, and their liturgy was represented
as a species of mass, though with some less show and em-
broidery.^^ Great prejudices, therefore, were entertained
against it, even considered in itself, much more when re-
garded as a preparative which was soon to introduce into
Scotland all the abominations of popery. And as the very
few alterations which distinguish the new liturgy from the
English seemed to approach nearer to the doctrine of the
real presence, this circumstance was deemed an undoubted
confirmation of every suspicion with which the people were
possessed. ^°
Easter-day was, by proclamation, appointed for the first
reading of the service in Edinburgh ; but in oi'der to judge
more surely of men's dispositions, the council delayed the
matter till the 23d of July ; and they even gave notice, the
10 Clarendon, vol. i. p. 105.
" King's Deel. p. 18. May, p. 32. >2 King's Decl. p. 20.
13 Burnet's Mem. p. 31. Eusliworth, vol. ii. p. 396. Maj', p. 31.
214 HISTOKY OP ENGLAND.
Sunday oefore, of their intention to commence the use of the
new litui-gy. As no considerable symptoms of discontent
appeared, they thought that they might safely proceed in
their purpose ; " and accordingly, in the cathedral church
of St. Giles, the Dean of Edinburgh, arrayed in his surplice,
began the service, the bishop himself and many of the
privy council being present. But no sooner had the dean
opened the book than a multitude of the meanest sort, most
of them women, clapping their hands, cursing, and crying
out, " A pope ! a pope ! Antichrist ! stone him ! " raised
such a tumult that it was impossible to proceed with the
service. The bishop, mounting the pulpit in order to ap-
pease the populace, had a stool thrown at him ; the council
was insulted ; and it was with difficulty that the magis-
trates were able, partly by authority, partly by force, to
expel the rabble and to shut the doors against them. The
tumult, however, still continued without; stones were
thrown at the doors and windows ; and when the service
was ended, the bishop, going home, was attacked, and nar-
I'owly escaped from the hands of the enraged multitude.
In the afternoon, the privy seal, because he carried the
bishop in his coach, was so pelted with stones, and hooted
at with execrations, and pressed upon by the eager popu-
lace, that if his servants, with drawn swords, had not kept
them off, the bishop's life had been exposed to the utmost
danger.'^
Though it was violently suspected that the low popu-
lace, who alone appeared, had been instigated by some
of higher condition, yet no proof of it could be produced ;
and every one spake with disapprobation of the licentious-
ness of the giddy multitude.^* It was not thought safe,
however, to hazard a new insult by any new attempt to
read the liturgy ; and the people seemed for the time to be
appeased and satisfied. But it being known that the king
still persevered in his intentions of imposing that mode of
worship, men fortified themselves still further in their preju-
dices against it ; and great multitudes resorted to Edin-
burgh, in order to oppose the introduction of so hated a
novelty." It was not long before they broke out in the
most violent disorder. The Bishop of Galloway was at-
tacked in the streets and chased into the chamber where the
" King's Bed. p. 22. Clarendon, vol, i. p. ]08. Rusliwortli, vol. ii. p. 387.
IS King's Decl. pp. 23, 24, 25. Ruehwortll, vol. ii. p. 388.
M King's Decl. pp- 26, 30. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 109.
" King's Decl. p. 32. Eusliworlli, vol. il. p. 400.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 215
privy council was sitting. The council itself was besieged
and violently attacked ; the town council met with the same
fate ; and nothing could have saved the lives of allof them
but their application to some popular lords, who protected
them and dispersed the multitude. In this sedition the
actors were of some better' condition than in the former,
though nobody of rank seemed as yet to countenance
them."
All men, however, began to unite and to encourage each
other in opposition to the _religiQus_innQva.ti&ns introduced
into the kingdom. Petitions to the council were signed
and presented by persons of the highest quality. The
women took part, and, as was usual, with violence. The
clergy everywhere loudly declaimed against popery and the
liturgy, which they represented as the same. The pulpits
resounded with vehement invectives against Antichrist ; and
the populace who first opposed the service was often com-
pared to Balaam's ass, an animal in itself stupid and sense-
less, but whose mouth had been opened by the Lord to the
almiration of the whole world.'^ In short, fanaticism
mingling with faction, private interest with the spirit of
liberty, symptoms appeared on all hands of the most dan-
gerous insurrection and disorder.
The primate, a man of wisdom and prudence, who was
all along averse to the introduction of the liturgy, repre-
sented to the king the state of the nation. The Earl of
Traquaire, the treasurer, set out for London in order to lay
the matter more fully before Iiim. Every circumstance,
whether the condition of England or of Scotland were con-
sidered, should have engaged him to desist from so haz- 3
ardous an attempt; yet was Charles inflexible. In his ;
whole conduct of this affair there appear no marks of the |
good sense with which he was endowed — a lively instance i
of that species of character so frequently to be met with, I
where there are found parts and judgment in every dis-
course and opinion, in many actions indiscretion and im- ,.
prudence. Men's views of things are the result of their
understanding alone. Their conduct is regulated by their '
understanding, their temper, and their passions.
[1638.] To so violent a combination of a whole king-
dom Charles had nothing to oppose but a proclamation, in
which he pardoned all past offences, and exhorted the peo-
ple to be more obedient for the future, and to submit peace-
" King's Decl. pp. 35, 36. Kashwortl), vol. ii. p. 404. " King's Deel. n. 31,
216 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
ably to the use of the liturgy. This proclamation was in-
stantly encountered with a public protestation, presented
by the Earl of Hume and Lord Lindesey ; and this was the
first time that men of quality had appeared in any violent
act of opposition.^" But this proved a crisis. The insur-
rection, which had been advancing by a gradual and slow
progress, now blazed up at once. No disorder, however,
attended it. On the contrary, a new order immediately
took place. Four tables, as they were called, were formed
in Edinburgh. One consisted of nobility, another of gentry,
a third of ministers, a fourth of burgesses. The table of
gentry was divided into many subordinate tables, according
to their different counties. In the hands of tho four tables
the whole authority of the kingdom was placed. Orders
were issued by them, and everywhere obeyed with the ut-
most ]-egularity.^^ And among the fii-st acts of their gov-
ernment was the production of the Covenant.
This famous covenant consisted first of a renunciation
of popery, formerly signed by James in his youth, and com-
posed of many invectives fitted to inflame the minds of
men against their fellow-creatures, whom Heaven has en-
joined them to cherish and to love. There followed a bond
of union by which the subscribers obliged themselves to re-
sist religious innovations, and to defend each other against
all opposition whatsoever ; and all this for the greater glory
of God, and the greater honor and advantage of their king
and country .^^ The people, without distinction of rank or
condition, of age or sex, flocked to the subscription of this
covenant. Few, in their judgment, disapproved of it ; and
still fewer durst openly condemn it. The king's ministers
and councillors themselves were, most of them, seized by
the general contagion. And none but rebels to God and
traitors to their country, it was thought, would withdraw
themselves from so salutary and so pious a combination.
The treacherous, the cruel, the unrelenting Philip, ac-
companied with all the terrors of a Spanish Inquisition, was
scarcely, during the preceding century, opposed in the Low
Countries with more determined fury than was now, by the
Scots, the mild, the humane Charles, attended with his in-
offensive liturgy.
The king began to apprehend the consequences. He
2» King's Decl. pp. 47, 48, etc. G-nthry, p. 28. May, p. 37.
21 Clarendon, vol. i. p. 111. Rushworth, vol. ii. p 734
« King's Decl. pp. 67, 68. Kusliworth, vol. ii. p. 734. May p 38
HISTOKY OP ENGLAND. 217
sent th.e Marquis of Hamilton as commissioner, with au-
thority to treat with the Covenanters. He required the
covenant to be renounced and recalled ; and he thought
that, on his part, he had made very satisfactory concessions
when he offered to suspend' the canons and the liturgy till,
in a fair and legal way, they could be received, and so to
model the high commission that it should no longer give
offence to his subjects.^' Such general declarations could
not well give content to any, much less to those who carried
so much higher their pretensions. The Covenanters found
themselves seconded by the zeal of the whole nation. Above
sixty thousand people were assembled in a tumultuous man-
ner in Edinburgh and the neighborhood. Charles possessed
no regular forces in either of his kingdoms. And the dis-
contents in England, though secret, were believed so violent
that the king, it was thought, would find it very difficult to
employ in such a cause the power of that kingdom. The
move, therefore, the popular leaders in Scotland considered
their situation, the less apprehension did they entertain of
royal power, and the more rigorously did they insist on en-
tire satisfaction. In answer to Hamilton's demand of re-
nouncing the covenant, they plainly told him that they
would sooner renounce their baptism.^* And the clei-gy
invited the commissioner himself to subscribe it by inform-
ing him "with what peace arid, comfort it had filled the
hearts of all God's people ; what resolutions and beginnings
of reformation of manners were sensibly perceived in all
parts of the nation, above any measure they had ever be-
fore found or could have expected ; how great glory the
Lord had received thereby ; and what confidence they had
that God would make Scotland a blessed kingdom." ^
Hamilton returned to London ; made another fruitless
journey, with new concessions, to Edinburgh ; returned
again to London ; and was immediately sent back with still
more satisfactory concessions. The king was now willing
entirely to abolish the canons, the liturgy, and the high-
commission court. He was even resolved to limit ex-
tremely the power of the bishops, and was content if on
any terms he could retain that order in the Church of Scot-
land.^° And, to insure all these gracious offers, he gave
Hamilton authority to summon first an assembly, then a
P Eushworth, vol. ii. p. 754, etc. « Kiiig'9 Decl. p. 87.
!5 King's Decl. p. 88. Eushworth, vol. ii. p. 751.
2» King's Decl. p. 13T. Eushworth, vol. ii. p. 762.
218 HISTOET OF ENGLAXD.
Parliament, where every national grievance might be re-
dressed and reniedied. These successive concessions of the
king, which yet came still short of the rising demands of
the malcontents, discovered his own weakness, encouraged
their insolence, and gave no satisfaction. The offer, how-
ever, of an assembly and a Parliament, in which they ex-
pected to be entirely masters, was willingly embraced by
the Covenanters.
Charles, perceiving what advantage his enemies had
reaped from their covenant, resolved to have a covenant on
his side ; and he ordered one to be drawn up for that pur-
pose. It consisted of the same violent renunciation of
popery above mentioned — which, though the king did not
approve of it, he thought it safest to adoj)t in order to re-
move all the suspicions entertained against him. As the
Covenanters in their bond of mutual defence against all
opposition had been careful not to except the king, Charles
had formed a bond which was annexed to this renunciation,
and which expressed the duty and loyalty of the subscribers
to his majesty.^' But the Covenanters, perceiving that this
new covenant was only meant to weaken and divide them,
received it with the utmost scorn and detestation. And
without delay they proceeded to model the future assembly
from which such great achievements were expected.^*
The genius of that religion which prevailed in Scotland,
and which, every day, was secretly gaining ground in Eng-
land, was far from inculcating deference and submission to
the ecclesiastics, merely as such ; or, rather, by nourishing
in every individual the highest raptures and ecstasies of
devotion, .it consecrated, in a manner, every individual, and,
in his own eyes, bestowed a character on him much superior
to what forms and ceremonious institutions could alone
confer. The clergy of Scotland, though such tumult was
excited about religious worship and discipline, were both
poor and in small numbers ; nor are they in general to be
considered — at least in the beginning — as the ringleaders of
the sedition which was raised on their account. On the
contrary, the laity, apprehending, from several instances
which occurred, a spirit of moderation in that order, re-
solved to domineer entirely in the assembly which was
summoned, and to hurry on the ecclesiastics by the same
furious zeal with which they were themselves transported.®
" King's Decl. p. 140, etc. 28 Rushworth vol ii n 779
" King's Deol. pp. 188, 189. Rushworth, vol. ii. p. 7617 ' ^" "
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 219
It had been usual, before the establishment of prelacy,
for each presbytery to send to the assembly, besides two or
three ministers, one lay commissioner;*" and as all the
boroughs and universities sent likewise commissioners, the
lay members in that ecclesiastical court nearly equalled the
ecclesiastics. Not only this institution, which James, ap-
prehensive of zeal in the laity, had abolished, was now
revived by the Covenanters, they also introduced an inno-
vation which served still further to reduce the clergy to
subjection. By an edict of the tables, whose authority was
supreme, an elder from each parish was ordered to attend
the presbytery, and to give his vote in the choice both of
the commissioners and ministers who should be deputed to
the assembly. As it is not usual for the ministers who are
put in the list of candidates to claim a vote, all the elections
by that means fell into the hands of the laity. The most
furious of all ranks were chosen ; and, the more to overawe
the clergy, a new device was fallen upon of choosing to
every commissioner four or five lay assessors, who, though
they could have no vote, might yet interpose with their
advice and authority in the assembly.*'
The assembly met at Glasgow ; and, besides a great con-
course of the people, all the nobility and gentry of any
family or interest were present, either as members, asses-
sors, or spectators; and it was apparent that the resolutions
taken by the Covenanters could here meet with no manner
of opposition. A firm determination had been entered
into of utterly abolishing episcopacy ; and, as a preparative
to it, there was laid before the presbytery of Edinburgh,
and solemnly read in all the churches of the kingdom, an
accusation against the bishops, as guilty, all of them, of
heresy, simony, bribery, perjury, cheating, incest, adultery,
fornication, common swearing, drunkenness, gaming, breach
of the Sabbath, and every other crime that had occurred to
the accusers.*'' The bishops sent a protest, declining the
authority of the assembly ; the commissioner, too, protested
against that court as illegally constituted and elected ; and,
in his majesty's name, dissolved it. This measure was fore-
seen, and little regarded. The court still continued to sit
and to finish their business.** All the acts of assembly
'" A presliytery in Scotland is an inferior ecclesiastical court, tho same tliat
was afterwards called a classis in England, and is composed of tbe clergy of the
neighboring parishes, to the number, commonly, of between twelve and twenty,
• SI King's Decl. pp. 190, 191, 290. Guthry, p. 39, etc.
" King's Deol. p. 218. Kushworth, vol. ii. o. 787. " May, p 44.
220 HISTOET or ENGLAND.
since the accession of James to the crown of England
were, upon pretty reasonable grounds, declared null and
invalid. The acts of Parliament which affected ecclesi-
astical affairs were supposed, on that very account, to have
no manner of authority. And thus episcopacy, the high
commission, the articles of Perth, the canons, and the
liturgy were abolished and declared unlawful ; and the
whole fabric which James and Charles, in a long course of
years, had been rearing with so much care and policy fell
at once to the ground. The covenant likewise was ordered
to be signed by every one, under pain of excommunication.^*
[1639.] The independency of the ecclesiastical upon the
civil power was the old presbyterian principle, which had
been zealously adopted at the Reformation, and which,
though James and Charles had obliged the Church publicly
to disclaim it, had secretly been adhered to by all ranks of
people. It was commonly asked whether Christ or the
king were superior ; and as the answer seemed obvious, it
was inferred that the assembly, being Christ's council, was
superior in all spiritual matters to the Parliament, which
was only the king's. But as the Covenanters were sensible
that this consequence, though it seemed to them irrefragable,
would not be assented to by the king, it became necessary
to maintain their religious tenets by military force, and not
to trust entirely to supernatural assistance, of which, how-
ever, they held themselves well assured. They cast their
eyes on all sides, abroad and at home, whenceever they
could expect any aid or support.
After France and Holland had entered into a league
against Spain, and framed a treaty of partition, by which
they were to conquer and to divide between them the Low-
Country provinces, England was invited to preserve a
neutrality between the contending parties, while the French
and Dutch should attack the maritime towns of Flanders.
But the king replied to D'Estrades, the French ambassador,
who opened the pi-oposal, that he had a squadron ready,
and would cross the seas, if necessary, with an army of
fifteen thousand men, in order to prevent these projected
conquests.^^ This answer, wliich proves that Charles,
though he expressed his mind with an imprudent candor,
had at last acquired a just idea of national interest, irritated
Cardinal Richelieu ; and, in revenge, that politic and enter-
prising minister carefully fomented the first commotions in
s' Ring's Decl. p. 317. >s Mem. D'EstradeB, vol. i
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 221
Scotland, and secretly supplied the Covenanters with money
and arms, in order to encourage them in their opposition
against their sovereign.
But the chief resource of the Scottish malcontents was
in themselves, and in their own vigor and abilities; No
regular established commonwealth could take juster meas-
ures, or execute them with greater promptitude, than did
this tumultuous combination, inflamed with bigotry for
religious trifles, and faction without a i-easonable object.
The whole kingdom was in a manner engaged ; and the
men of greatest abilities soon acquired the ascendant, whicli
their family interest enabled them to maintain. The Earl
of Argyle, though he long seemed to temporize, had at last
embraced the covenant ; and he became the chief leader of
that party : a man equally supple and inflexible, cautious,
and determined, and entirely qualified to make a figure
during a factious and turbulent period. The Earls of
Rothes, Cassilis, Montrose, Lothian, the Lords Lindesey,
Loudon, Yester, Balmerino, distinguished themselves in
that party. Many Scotch officers had acquired reputation
in the German wars, particularly under Gustavus ; and these
were invited over to assist their country in her present neces-
sity. The command was entrusted to Lesley, a soldier of
experience and abilities. Forces were regularly enlisted and
disciplined. Arms were commissioned and imported from
foreign countries. A few castles which belonged to the
king, being unprovided with victuals, ammunition, and
garrisons, were soon seized. And the whole country, ex-
cept a small part, where the Marquis of Huntley still
adhered to the king, being in the hands of the Covenanters,
was in a very little time put in a tolerable posture of
defence.^'
The fortifications of Leith were begun and carried on
with great rapidity. Besides the inferior sort and those who
labored for p.ay, incredible numbers of volunteers, even
noblemen and gentlemen, put their hands to the work, and
deemed the most abject employment to be dignified by the,,
sanctity of the cause. Women, too, of rank and condition,
forgetting the delicacy of their sex and the decorum of their
character, were intermingled with the lowest rabble, and
.carried on their shoulders the rubbish requisite for com-
pleting the fortifications.^'
We must not omit another auxiliary of the Covenanters,
*i May, p. 49. '' Guthry's Memoirs, p. 46.
222 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
and no inconsiderable one — a prophetess, who was much
followed and admired by all ranks of people. Her name
was Michelson : a woman full of whimsies, partly hyster-
ical, partly religious, and inflamed with a zealous concern
for the ecclesiastical discipline of the Presbyterians. She
spoke at certain times only, and had often interruptions of
days and weeks ; but when she began to renew her ecstasies,
warning of the happy event was conveyed over the whole
countiy, thousands crowded about her house, and every
word which she uttered was received with veneration, as
the most sacred oracles. The covenant was her perpetual
theme. The true, genuine covenant, she said, was ratified
in heaven ; the king's covenant was an invention of Satan.
When she spoke of Christ, she usually gave him the name of
the Covenanting Jesus. Rollo, a popular preacher and zeal-
ous Covenanter, was her great favorite, and paid her, on his
part, no less veneration. Being desired by the spectators
to pray with her and speak to her, he answered " that he
durst not, and that it would be ill manners in him to speak
while his master Christ was speaking in her." ''
Charles had agreed to reduce episcopal authority so
much that it would no longer have been of any service to
support the crown ; and this sacrifice of his own interests
he was willing to make in order to attain public peace and
tranquillity. But he could not consent entirely to abolish
an order which he thought as essential to the being of a
Christian Church as his Scottish subjects deemed it incom-
patible with that sacred institution. This narrowness of
mind, if we would be impartial, we must either blame or
excuse equally on both sides, and thereby anticipate, by a
little reflection, that judgment which time, by introducing
new subjects of controversy, will undoubtedly render quite
familiar to posterity.
So great was Charles's aversion to violent and sanguin-
ary measures, and so strong his affection to his native king-
dom, that it is probable the contest in his breast would be
nearly equal between these laudable passions and his attach-
, ment to the hierarchy. The latter affection, however,
prevailed for the time, and made him hasten those military
preparations which he had projected for subduing the re-
f fractory spirit of the Scottish nation. By regular economy,
I he had not only paid all the debts contracted during the
V SDanish and French wars, but had amassed a sum of two
3» King's Declaration at large, p. 227. Burnet's Memoirs of Hamilton.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 223
hundred thousand pounds, which he reserved for any sudden
exigency. The, queen had great interest with the Catholics,
both from the sympathy of religion and from the favors and
indulgences which she had been able to procure to them.
She now employed her credit, and persuaded them that it
was reasonable to give lai-ge contributions, as a mark of
their duty to the king, during this urgent necessity.*' A
considerable supply was obtained by this means, to the
ffl'eat scandaLaf the Puritans,^ who were offended at seeing
tfiie lung on such good terms with the Papists, and repined
that others should give wliat they themselves were disposed
to refuse him.
Charles's fleet was formidable and well supplied. Having
put 5000 land forces on board, he intrusted it to the
Marquis of Hamilton, who had orders to sail to the Frith of
Forth, and to cause a diversion in the forces of the malcon-
tents. An army was levied of near 20,000 foot and above
3000 horse, and was put under the command of the Earl
of Arundel, a nobleman of great family, but celebrated
neither for military nor political abilities. The Eai-1 of
Essex, a man of strict honor, and extremely popular, espe-
cially among the soldiery, was appointed lieutenant-general ;
the Earl of Holland was general of the horse. • The king
himself joined the army, and he summoned all the peers of
England to attend him. The whole had the appearance of
a splendid court rather than of a militaiy armament ; and in
this situation, carrying more show than real force with it,
the camp arrived at Berwick.^"
The Scottish army was as numerous as that of the king,
but inferior in cavalry. The officers had more reputation
and experience ; and the soldiers, though undisciplined and
ill-armed, were animated as well by the national aversion to
England, and the dread of becoming a province to their old
enemy, as by an unsurmountable fervor of religion. The
pulpits had extremely assisted the officers in levying recruits,
and had thundered out anathemas against all those " who
went not out to assist the Lord against the mighty." *^ Yet
so prudent were the leaders of the malcontents that they
immediately sent submissive messages to the king, and
craved to be admitted to a treaty.
Charles knew that the force of the Covenanters was con-
'» Eushworth, vol. iii. p. 1329. Franklyn, p. 767.
« Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 115, IIB, 117.
u Buiaet's Memoirs of Hamilton.
224 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
siderable, their spirits high, their zeal furious ; and that, as
they were not yet daunted by any ill-success, no reasonable
terms could be expected from them. With regard, there-
fore, to a treaty, great difficulties occuixed on both sides.
Should he submit to the pretensions of the malcontents,
besides that the prelacy must be sacrificed to their religious
prejudices, such a check would be given to royal au-
thority (which had, very lately, and with much difficulty,
been thoroughly established in Scotland) that he must ex-
pect ever after to retain in that kingdom no more than the
appearance of majesty. The great men, having proved by
so sensible a trial the impotence of law and prerogative,
would return to their former licentiousness ; the preachers
would retain their innate arrogance ; and the people, un-
protected by justice, would recognize no other authority
than that which they found to domineer over them. Eng-
land also, it was much to be feared, would imitate so bad
an example ; and having already a strong propensity towards
rejiublican and puritanical factions, would expect, by the
same seditious practices, to attain the same indulgence. To
advance so far without bringing the rebels to a total sub-
mission, at least to reasonable concessions, was to promise
them, in all future time, an impunity for rebellion.
On the other hand, Charles considered that Scotland
was never before, under any of his ancestors, so united and
so animated in its own defence ; yet had often been able to
foil or elude the force of England, combined heartily in one
cause, and inured by long practice to the use of arras.
How much greater difficulty should he find at present to
subdue, by violence, a people inflamed with religious prej-
udices, while he could only oppose to them a nation en-
ervated by long peace and lukewarm in his service ; or,
what was more to be dreaded, many of them engaged in the
same party with the rebels ? " Should the war be only pro-
tracted beyond a campaign (and who could expect to finish
it in that period ?), his treasures would fail him ; and for
supply he must have recourse to an English parliament,
which by fatal experience he had ever found more ready to
encroach on the prerogatives than to supply the necessities
of the crown. And what if he receive a defeat from the
rebel army? This misfortune was far from being impos-
sible. They were engaged in a national cause, and strongly
actuated by mistaken principles. His army was retained
•2 EuBhwortli, Tol. iii. p. 936.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 225
entirely by pay, and looked on the quarrel -with the same
indifference which naturally belongs to mercenary troops^
without possessing the discipline by which such troops
are commonly distinguished. And the consequences of a
defeat, while Scotland was enraged and England discon-
tented, were so dreadful that no motive should persuade
him to hazard it.
It is evident that Charles had fallen into such a situation
that, whichever side he embraced, his errors must be dan-
gerous. No wonder, therefore, he was in great perplexity.
But he did worse than embrace the worst side ; for, properly
speaking, he embraced no side at all. He concluded a sud-
den pacification, in which it was stipulated that he should
withdraw his fleet and army ; that within eight-and-forty
hours the Scots should dismiss their forces ; that tl e king s
forts should be restored to him, his authority be acknowl-
edged, and a general assembly and a Parliament be im-
mediately summoned, in order to compose all differences.*^
What were the reasons which engaged the king to admit
such strange articles of peace it is in vain to inquire, for
there scarcely could be any. The causes of that event may
admit of a more easy explication.
The malcontents had been very industrious in represent-
ing to the English the grievances under which Scotland
labored, and the ill councils which had been suggested to
the sovereign. Their liberties, they said, were invaded ;
the prerogatives of the crown extended beyond all former
precedent ; illegal courts erected ; the hierarchy exalted at
the expense of national privileges; and so many new super-
stitions introduced by the haughty, tyrannical prelates as
begat a just suspicion that a project was seriously formed
for the restoration of popery. The king's conduct, surely,
in Scotland had been in everything, except in establishing
the ecclesiastical canons, more legal than in England ; yet
was there such a general resemblance in the complaints of
both kingdoms that the English readily assented to all the
representations of Scottish malcontents, and believed that
nation to have been driven by oppression into the violent
counsels which they had embraced. So far, therefore, from
being willing to second the king in subduing the free spirits
of the Scots, they rather pitied that unhappy people, who
had been pushed to those extremities ; and they thought
that the example of such neighbors, as well as their assist-
" Eushwortli, vol. iil. p. 945.
Vol. IV.— 15
226 HISTOET OF ENGLAND,
ance, might some time be advantageous to England, and
encourage her to recover, by a vigorous effort, her violated
laws and liberties. The gentry and nobility Avho, without
attachment to the court, without command in the army, at-
tended in great numbers the English camp, greedily seized
and propagated, and gave authority to these sentiments. A
retreat, very little honorable, which the Earl of Holland,
with a considerable detachment of the English forces, had
made before a detachment of the Scottish, caused all these
humors to blaze up at once ; and the king, whose character
was not sufBciently vigorous or decisive, and wlio was apt,
from facility, to embrace hasty counsels, suddenly assented
to a measure which was recommended by all about him, and
which favored his natural propension towards the misguided
subjects of his native kingdom.^*
Charles, having so far advanced in pacific measures,
ought with a steady resolution to have prosecuted them,
and have submitted to every tolerable condition demanded
by the assembly and Parliament ; nor should he have re-
commenced hostilities but on account of such enormous and
unexpected pretensions as would have justified his cause, if
possible, to the whole English nation. So far, indeed, he
adopted this plan, that he agreed not only to confirm his
former concessions of abrogating the canons, the liturgy, the
high commission, and the articles of Perth, but iaiso to abol-
ish the order itself of bishops, for which he had so zealously
contended.^^ But this concession was gained by the utmost
violence which he could impose on his disposition and prej-
udices. He even secretly retained an intention of seizing
favorable opportunities in order to recover the ground
which he had lost ; ^^ and one step further he could not pre-
vail with himself to advance. The assembly, when it met,
paid no deference to the king's prepossessions, but gave full
indulgence to their own. They voted episcopacy to be un-
lawful in the Church of Scotland ; he was willing to allow
it contr,aryJ,o the constitutions of that Church. They stig-
matized the liturgy and canons as popish ; he agreed simply
to abolish them. They denominated the high commission
tyranny ; he was content to set it aside.*' The Parliament,
which sat after the assembly, advanced pretensions which
tended to diminish the civil power of the monarch ; and,
** Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 122, 123. May, p. 46.
*» Rushworth, vol. ill. p. 946.
<" Buniet's Memoirs, p. 164. Eusliworth, vol. iJi. p. 951.
*7 Kusliworth, vol. iii. p. 958, etc.
HISTOEY OP EN-GLAND. 227
TrLat probably affected Charles still more, they were pro-
ceeding to ratify the acts of assembly when, by the king's
instructions,^' Traquaire, the commissioner, prorogued them ;
and on account of these claims, which might have been
foreseen, was the war renewed with great advantage on
the side of the Covenanters and disadvantages on that of
the king.
No sooner had Charles concluded the pacification with-
out conditions than the necessity of his affairs and his want
of money obliged him to disband his army ; and as the sol-
diers had been held together solely by mercenary views, it
was not possible, without great trouble and expense and loss
of time, again to assemble them. The more prudent Cove-
nanters had concluded that their pretensions, being so con-
trary to the interests, and still more to the inclinations, of
the king, it was likely thai they should again be obliged to
support their cause by arms ; and they were therefore care-
ful, in dismissing their troops, to preserve nothing but the
appearance of a pacific disposition. The officers had orders
to be ready on the first summons ; the soldiers were warned
not to think the nation secure from an English invasion ;
and the religious zeal which animated all ranks of men made
them immediately fly to their standards as soon as the trum-
pet was sounded by their spiritual and temporal leaders.
The credit which in their last expedition they had acquired,
by obliging their sovereign to depart from all his preten-
sions, gave courage to every one in undertaking this new
enterprise.^^
[1640.] The king, with great difficulty, found means to |
draw together an army; but soon discovered that, all savW
ings being gone and great' debts contracted, his revenue!
would be insufficient to support them. An English parliaJ \
ment, therefore, formerly so unkind and intractable, must I
now, fafter_above eleY£n_years' iatermisfli-efl, after the king
had tried many irregular methods of taxation, after mul-
tiplied disgusts given to the puritanical party, be sum-
moned to assemble amid the most pressing necessities of
the crown.
As the king resolved to try whether this House of Com-
mons would be more compliant than their predecessors, and
grant him supply on any reasonable terms, the time ap-
pointed for the meeting of Parliament was late, and very
" Eusliworth, vol. lii. p. 965.
" Clarendon, vol. i. p. 125. Rushworth, vol. ill. p. 1033.
228 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND.
near the time allotted for opening the campaign against the
Soots. After the past experience of their ill-humor and of
their encroaching disposition, he thought that he could not
in prudence trust them with a long session till he had seen
some better proofs of their good intentions. The urgency
of the occasion, and the little time allowed for debate,
were reasons which he reserved against the malcontents in
the House; and an incident had happened which, he he
lieved, had now furnished him with still more cogent argu-
ments.
The Earl of Traquaire had intercepted a letter written
to the King of France by the Scottish malcontents, and had
conveyed this letter to the king. Charles, partly repenting
of the large concessions made to the Scots, partly disgusted
at their fresh insolence and pretensions, seized this oppor-
tunity of breaking with them. He had thrown into the
Tower Lord Loudon, commissioner from the Covenanters,
one of the persons who had signed the treasonable letter;^'
and he now laid the matter before the Parliament, whom he
hoped to inflame by the resentment and alarm by the danger
of this application to a foreign power. By the mouth of
the lord keeper. Finch, he discovered his wants, and in-
formed them that he had been able to assemble his army,
and to subsist them, not by any revenue which he possessed,
put by means of a large debt of above three hundred thou-
jfeand pounds which he had contracted, and for which he had
given security upon the crown lands. He represented that
It was necessary to grant supplies for the immediate and
urgent demands of his military armaments ; that the season
was far advanced, the time precious, and none of it must he
lost in deliberation ; that though his coffers were empty,
they had not been exhausted by unnecessary pomp, or
sumptuous buildings, or any other kind of magnificence ;
that whatever supplies had been levied on his subjects had
been employed for their advantage and pi-eservation, and,
like vapors rising out of the earth and gathered into a cloud,
had fallen in sweet and refreshing showers on the same
fields from which they had at first been exhaled ; that
though he desired such immediate assistance as might pre-
vent for the time a total disorder of the government, he was
far from any intention of precluding them from their right
to inquire into the state of the kingdom, and to offer him
petitions for the redress of their grievances ; that as much
»> Clarendon, vol. i. p. 129. Kushwortli, vol. iii. p. 956. May, p. 56.
HISTOKT OF ENGLAND. 229
as ■was possible of this season should afterwards be allowed
them for that purpose ; that as he expected only such sup-
ply at present as the current service necessarily required, it
would be requisite to assemble them again next winter,
when they should have full leisure to conclude whatever
business had this session been left imperfect and unfinished ;
that the Parliament of Ireland had twice put such trust in
his good intentions as to grant him, in the beginning of the
session, a large supply, and had ever experienced good
effects from the confidence reposed in hira; and that, in
every circumstance, his people should find his conduct suit-
able to a just, pious, and gracious king, and Such as was cal-
cul ited to promote an entire harmony between prince and
Parliament.^^
However plausible these topics, they made small impres-
sion on the House of Commons. By some illegal, and sev-
eral suspicious measures of the crown, and by the cour-
ageous opposition which particular persons, amid dangers
and hardships, had made to them, the minds of men through- ~i
out the nation had taken such a turn as to ascribe every j
honor to the refractory opposers of the king and the min- j
isters. These were the only patriots, the only lovers of
their country, the only heroes, and, perliaps, too, the only j
true Christians. A reasonable compliance with the court :
was slavish dependence ; a regard to the king, servile •
flattery; a confidence in his promises, shameful prostitution. ■ I
This general cast of thought, which has, more or less, pre-
vailed in England during near a century and a half, and /
which has been the cause of much good and much ill in
public affairs, never predominated more than during the J
reign of Charles. The present House of Commons, beings
entirely composed of country gentlemen, who came into
Parliament with all their native prejudices about them, and\
whom the crown had no means of influencing, could not |
fail to contain a majority of these stubborn patriots.
Affairs likewise, by means of the Scottish insurrection '
aind the general discontents in England, were drawn so
near to a crisis that the leaders of the House, sagacious and
penetrating, began to foresee the consequences, and to hope
that the time, so long wished for, was now come, when
royal authority must fall into a total subordination under "I
popular assemblies, and when public liberty must acquire a J
full ascendant. By reducing the crown to necessities, they
"i Eushworth, vol. iii. p. 1114.
230 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
" had hitherto found that the king had been pushed into vio-
j lent counsels, which had served extremely the purposes of
i his adversaries ; and by multiplying these necessities, it was
' foreseen that his prerogative, undermined on all sides, must
at last be overthrown, and be no longer dangerous to the
. privileges of the people. "Whatever, therefore, tended to
compose the differences between king and Parliament, and
to preserve the government uniformly in its present chan-
nel, was zealously opposed by these popular leaders ; and
their past conduct and sufferings gave them credit sufficient
to effect all their purposes.
The House of Commons, moved by these and inany other
obvious reasons, instead of taking notice of the king's com-
plaints against his Scottish subjects, or his applications for
supply, entered immediately upon grievances ; and a speech
which Pym made them on that subject was much more
hearkened to than that which the lord keeper had delivered
to them in the name of their sovereign. The subject of
Pym's harangue has been sufficiently explained above,
where we gave an account of all the grievances, imaginary
in the Church, more real in the State, of which the nation
at that time so loudly complained.'^^ The House began
with examining the behavior of the speaker the last day of
the former Parliament, when he refused, on account of the
king's command, to put the question ; and they declared it
a breach of privilege. They proceeded next to inquire into
the imprisonment and prosecution of Sir John Elliot, Holhs,
and Valentine ; ^ the affair of ship-money was canvassed,
and plentiful subject of inquiry was suggested on all hands.
Grievances were regularly classed under three heads — ^those
with regard to privileges of Parliament, to the property of
the subject, and to religion." The king, seeing a large and
inexhaustible field opened, pressed them again for supply ;
and, finding his message ineffectual, he came to the House
of Peers, and desired their good offices with the Commons.
/ The Peers were sensible of the king's urgent necessities ;
i^ and thought that supply, on this occasion, ought, both in
reason and in decency, to go before grievances. They ven^.
tured to represent their sense of the matter to the Commons ;
but their intercession did harm. The Commons had always
. 66. War-
wick, p. 151.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 239
event was nothing strange among new-levied troops ; and
the Scots, being in the same condition, would no doubt b^
liable in their turn to a like accident. His opinion, there-
fore, was that the king should push forward and attack the
Scots, and bring the affair to a quick decision ; and if he were
ever so unsuccessful, nothing worse could befall him than
what, from his inactivity, he would certainly be exposed
to.'" To show how easy it would be to execute this proj-
ect, he ordered an assault to be made on some quarters of
the Scots, and he gamed an advantage over them. No ces-
sation of arms had as yet been agreed to during the treaty
at Rippon, yet great clamor prevailed on account of this act/
of hostility ; and when it was known that the oiRcer who
conducted the attack was a Papist, a violent outci-y was
raised against the king for employing that hated sect in the
murder of his Protestant subjects.*-'
It may be worthy of remark that several mutinies had
arisen among the English troops when marching to join the
army ; and some officers had been murdered merely on sus-
picion of their being Papists.*'' The Petition of Right had
abolished all martial law ; and by an inconvenience which
naturally attended the plan, as yet new and unformed, of
regular and rigid liberty, it was found absolutely impossible
for the generals to govern the army by all the authority
which the king could legally confer 'upon them. The law-
yers had declared that martial law could not be exercised
except in the presence of an enemy ; and because it had
been found necessary to execute a mutineer, the generals
thought it advisable, for their own safety, to apply for a
pardon from the crown. This weakness, however, was care-
fully concealed from the army, and Lord Conway said that
if any lawyer were so imprudent as to discover the secret to
the soldiers, it would be necessary instantly to refute him,
and to hang the lawyer himself by sentence of a court mar-
tial.»=
An army new-levied, undisciplined, frightened, seditious,
ill paid, and governed by no proper authority, was very un-
fit for withstanding a victorious and high-spirited enemy,
and retaining in subjection a discontented and zealous na-
tion.
Charles, in despair of being able to stem the torrent, at
" Nalson, vol. li. p. 5. '' Clarendon, vol. 1. p. 159.
'" Rushworth, vol. iii. pp. 1190, 1191, 1192, etc. May, p. 64.
*■ Kushwortli, vol. iii- p. 1199.
240 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
last determined to yield to it ; and as he foresaw that the
great council of Peers would advise him to call a Parlia-
ment, he told them in his first speech that he had already
taken this resolution. He informed them likewise that the
queen, in a letter which she had written to him, had very
earnestly recommended that measure. This good prince,
who was extremely attached to his consort, and who pas-
sionately wished to render her popular in the nation, forgot
not, amid all his distress, the interest of his domestic tender-
ness.*^
In order to subsist both armies (for the king was obli2;ed,
in order to save the northern counties, to pay his enemies),
Charles wrote to the city, desiring a loan of two hundred
thousand pounds. And the Peers at York, whose authority
was now much greater than that of their sovereign, joined
in the same request.^^ So low was this prince already fallen
in the eyes of his own subjects !
As many difficulties occurred in the negotiation with the
Scots, it was proposed to transfer the treaty from Rippon
to London — a proposal willingly embraced by that nation,
who were now sure of treating with advantage, in a place
where the king, they foresaw, would be in a manner a pris-
oner in the midst of his implacable enemies and their deter-
mined friends.*^
e* Clarendon, vol. i. p. 154. Eushwortli, vol. lii. p. 1275.
85 Xiushworth, vol. iii. p. 1279. =« Rushworth, vol. iii. p. 1305.
HISTOBY OF ENGLAND. 241
CHAPTER LIV.
MEETING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT. — STEAFEOED AND LAUD
IMPEACHED. FINCH AND WINDEBANK FLT. GEEAT ATT-
THOEITY OP THE COMMONS. THE BISHOPS ATTACKED.
TONNAGE AND POUNDAGE. TRIENNIAL BILL. STEAF-
FOEd's TRIAL. BILL OF ATTAINDEE. EXECUTION OF
STEAFFOED. HIGH COMMISSION AND STAE-CHAMBEE ABOL-
ISHED. king's journey to SCOTLAND.
[1640.] The causes of disgust which, for above thirty
years, had been daily multiplying in England were now
come to full maturity, and threatened the kingdom with
some great revolution or convulsion. The uncertain and
undefined limits of prerogative and privilege had been
eagerly disputed during that whole period ; and in every
controversy between prince and people the questioii, how-
ever doubtful, had always been decided by each party in
favor of its own pretensions. Too lightly, perhaps, moved
by the appearance of necessity, the king had even assumed
powers incompatible with the principles of limited govern-
ment, and had rendered it impossible for his most zealous
partisans entirely to justify his conduct, except by topics so
unpopular that they were more fitted, in the present dispo-
sition of men's minds, to inflame than appease the general
discontent. Those great supports of public authority, law
and religion, had likewise, by the unbounded compliance of
judges and jarelates, lost much of their influence over the
people ; or, rather, had, in a great measure, gone over to
the side of faction, and authorized the spirit of opposition
and rebellion. The nobility, also, whom the king had no
means of retaining by offices and preferments suitable to
their rank, had been seized with the general discontent, and
unwarily threw tliemselves into the scale which already be-
gan too much to preponderate. Sensible of some encroach-
ments which had been made by royal authority, men enter-
tained no jealousy of the Commons, whose enterpi-ises for
the acquisition of power had ever been covered with the
appearance of the public good, and had hitherto gone no
Vol. IV.— 16
242 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
further than some disaiDpointed efforts and endeavors. The
progress of the Scottish mnlcontents reduced the crown to
an entire dependence for supply ; their union with the pop-
ular party in England brought great accession of authority
to the latter ; the near jarospect of success roused all latent
murniurs and pretensions, which had hitherto been held in
such violent constraint ; and the torrent of general inclina-
tion and opinion ran so strongly against the court that the
king was in no situation to refuse any reasonable demands
of the popular leaders, either for defining or limiting the
powers of his prerogative. Even many exorbitant claims,
in his present situation, would probably be made, and must
necessarily be complied with.
The triumph of the malcontents over the Church was
( not yet so immediate or certain. Though the political and
religious Puritans mutually lent assistance to each other,
there were many who joined the former, yet declined all con-
jiection with the latter. The hierarchy had been established
in England eyer since the Reformation ; the Romish Church,
in all ages, had carefully maintained that form of ecclesias-
tical government ; the ancient fathers, too, bore testimony to
episcopal jurisdiction, and though parity may seem at first
to have had place among Christian pastors, the period dur-
ing which it prevailed was so short that few undisputed
traces of it remained in history. The bishops, and their
more zealous partisans, inferred thence the divine indefeasi-
ble right of prelacy; others regarded that institution as ven-
erable and useful ; and if the love of novelty led some to
adopt the new rites and discipline of the Puritans, the rev-
erence to antiquity retained many in their attachment to
the liturgy and government of the Church. It behooved,
therefore, the zealous innovators in Parliament to proceed
with some caution and reserve. By promoting all measures
which reduced the powers of the crown, they hoped to dis-
arm the king, whom they justly regarded, from principle,
inclination, and policy, to be the determined patron of the
hierarchy. By declaiming against the supposed encroach-
ments and tyranny of the prelates, they endeavored to carry
the nation from a hatred of their jjersons to an opposition
against their office and character. And when men were en-
listed in party, it would not be difficult, they thought, to
lead them by degrees into many measures for which they
formerly entertained the greatest aversion. Though the
new sectaries composed not at first the majority of the na-
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 243
tion, they were inflamed, as is usual among innovators, with
extreme zeal for their opinions. Their unsuvmountable pas-
sion, disguised to themselves as well as to others under the
appearance of holy fervors, was well qualified to make pros-
elytes, and to seize the minds of the ignorant multitude.
And one furious enthusiast was able, by his active industry,
to surmount the indolent efforts of many sober and reason-
able antagonists.
When the nation, therefore, was so generally discon-
tented, and little suspicion was entertained of any design to
subvert the Churcb and monarchy, no wonder that almost all
elections ran m favor of those who, by their high preten-
sions to piety and patriotism, had encouraged the national
prejudices. It is a usual compliment to regard the king's
inclination in the choice of a speaker ; and Charles had in-
tended to advance Gardiner, Eecorder of London, to that
important trust ; but so little interest did the crown at that
time possess in the nation that Gardiner was disappointed
of his election, not only in London, but in every other place
where it was attempted : and the king was obliged to make
the choice of speaker fall on Lenthall, a lawyer of some
character, but not sufficiently qualified for so high and dif-
ficult an office.^
The eager expectations of men with regard to a Parlia-
ment summoned at so critical a juncture, and during such
general discontents — a Parliament which, from the situation
of public affairs, could not be abruptly dissolved, and which
was to execute everything left unfinished by former parlia-
ments— these motives, so important and interesting, engaged
the attendance of all the members ; and the House of Com-
mons was never observed to be, from the beginning, so full
and numerous. Without any interval, therefore, they en-
tered upon business, and, by unanimous consent, they im-
mediately struck a blow which may in a manner be regarded
as decisive.
The Earl of Strafford was considered as chief minister,
both on account of the credit which he possessed with his
master and of his own great and uncommon vigor and capa-
city. By a concurrence of accidents, this man labored un-
der the severe hatred of all the three nations which com-
posed the British monarchy. The Scots, whose authority
now ran extremely high, looked on him as the capital enemy
of their country, and one whose counsels and influence they
! I Clarendon, vol. i. p. 169.
244 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
had most reason to apprehend. He had engaged the Par-
liament of Ireland to advance large subsidies, in order to
sni^port a war against them ; he had levied an army of nine
thousand men, with which he had menaced all their western
coast ; he had obliged the Scots who lived under his govern-
ment to renounce the covenant, their national idol ; he had,
in Ireland, proclaimed the Scottish Covenanters rebels and
traitors, even before the king had issued any such declara-
tion against them in England; and he had ever dissuaded
his master against the late treaty and suspension of arms,
which he regarded as dangerous and dishonorable. So
avowed and violent were the Scots in their resentment of
all these measures that they had refused to send commis-
sioners to treat at York, as was at first proposed ; because,
they said, the Lieutenant of Ireland, their capital enemy,
being general of the king's forces, had there the chief com-
mand and authority.
Strafford, first as deputy, then as lord lieutenant, had
(governed Ireland during eight years with great vigilance,
^activity, and prudence, but with very little popularity. In
a nation so averse to the English government and religion,
these very virtues were sufiicient to draw on him the public
hatred. The manners, too, and character of this great man,
though to all full of courtesy, and to his friends full of af-
fection, were at bottom haughty, rigid, and severe. His
authority and influence, during the time of his government,
had been unlimited ; but no sooner did adversity seize him
than the concealed aversion of the nation blazed up at once,
and the Irish Parliament used every expedient to aggravate
the charge against him.
The universal discontent which prevailed in England
1 against the court was all pointed towards the Earl of Straf-
\ford; though without any particular reason, but because he
was the minister of state whom the king most favored and
trusted. His extraction was honorable, his paternal fortune
considerable ; yet envy attended his sudden and great ele-
vation. And his former associates in popular councils,
finding that he owed his advancement to the desertion of
their cause, represented him as the great apostate of the
commonwealth, whom it behooved them to sacrifice as a
victim to public justice.
Strafford, sensible of the load of popular prejudices
under which he labored, would gladly have declined attend-
ance in Parliament ; and he begged the king's permission
HISTOEY 03? ENGLAND, 245
to withdraw himself to his government of Ireland — at least
to remain at the head of the army in Yorkshire — where
many opportunities, he hoped, would offer, by reason of his
distance, to elude the attacks of his enemies. But Charles,
who had entire confidence in the earl's capacity, thought
that his counsels would be extremely useful during the
critical session which approached. And when Strafford
still insisted on the danger of his appearing amid so many
enraged enemies, the king, little apprehensive that his own
authority was so suddenly to expire, promised him protec-
tion, and assured him that not a hair of his head should be
touched by the Parliament.^
No sooner was Strafford's arrival known than a con-
certed attack was made upon him in the House of Com-
mons. Pym, in a long, studied discourse, divided into
many heads after his manner, enumerated all the grievances
under which the nation labored ; and, from a complication
of such oppressions, inferred that a deliberate plan had
been formed of changing entirely the frame of government
and subverting the ancient laws and liberties of the king-
dom.' "Could anything," he said, "increase our indigna-
tion against so enormous and criminal a project, it would
be to find that, during the reign of the best of princes, the
constitution had been endangered by the worst of minis-
ters, and that the virtues of the king had been seduced by
wicked and pernicious counsel. We must inquire," added
he, " from what fountain these waters of bitterness flow ;
and though, doubtless, many evil counsellors will be found
to have contributed their endeavors, yet is there one who
challenges the infamous pre-eminence, and who, by his
courage, enterprise, and capacity, is entitled to the first
place among these betrayers of their country. He is the
Earl of Strafford, Lieutenant of Ireland, and President of
the Council of York, who in both places, and in all other
provinces where he has been intrusted with authority, has
raised ample monuments of tyranny, and will appear, from
a survey of his actions, to be the chief promoter of every
arbitrary counsel." Some instances of imperious expres-
sions as well as actions were given by Pym, who afterwards
entered into a more personal attack of that minister, and
endeavored to expose his whole character and manners.
The austei-e genius of Strafford, occupied in the pursuits of
ambition, had not rendered his breast altogether inaccessible
= WMtlocke, p. 36. 3 Ibid.
246 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND.
to the tender passions, or secured him fronj the dominion of
the fair ; and in that sullen age, when the irregularities of
pleasure were more reproachful than the most odious crimes,
these weaknesses were thought worthy of being mentioned,
together with his treasons, before so great an assembly.
And, upon the whole, the orator concluded that it belonged
to the House to provide a remedy proportionable to the
disease, and to prevent the further mischiefs justly to
be apprehended from the influence which this man had ac-
quired over the measures and counsels of their sovereign.*
Sir John Clotworthy, an Irish gentleman, Sir John
Hotham, of Yorkshire, and many others, entered into the
same topics ; and after several hours spent in bitter invec-
tive, when the doors were locked in order to prevent all
discovery of their purpose, it was moved, in consequence of
the resolution secretly taken, that Strafford should imme-
diately be impeached of high treason. This motion was
received with universal approbation ; nor was there in all
the debate one person that offered to stop the torrent by
any testimony in favor of the earl's conduct. Lord Falk-
land alone, though known to be his enemy, modestly desired
the House to consider whether it would not better suit the
gravity of their proceedings, first, to digest by a committee
many of those particulars which had been mentioned before
they sent up an accusation against him. It was ingen-
uously answered by Pym that such a delay might probably
blast all their hopes, and put it out of their power to pro-
ceed any further in the prosecution ; that when Strafford
should learn that so many of his enormities were discov-
ered, his conscience would dictate his condemnation ; and
so great was his power and credit, he would immediately
procure the dissolution of the Parliament, or attetnpt some
other desperate measure for his own preservation ; that the
Commons were only accusers, not judges; and it was the
province of the Peers to determine whether such a com-
plication of enormous crimes in one person did not amount
to the highest crime known by the law.^ Without further
debate, the impeachment was voted ; Pym was chosen to
carry it up to the Lords. Most of the House accompanied
him on so agreeable an errand ; and Strafford, who had just
entered the House of Peers, and who little expected so
speedy a prosecution, was immediately, upon this general
• Claremlon, vol. 1, p. 172. ^ Clarendon, vol. i. p. 174.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 247
charge, ordered into custody, with several symptoms of vio-
lent prejudice in his judges as vs^ell as in his prosecutors.
In the inquiry concerning grievances and in the censure
of past measures, Laud could not long escape the severe
scrutiny of the Commons, who were led, too,' in their accu-
sation of that prelate, as well by their prejudices against his
whole order as by the extreme antipathy which his intem-
perate zeal had drawn upon him. After a deliberation,
which scarcely lasted half an hour, an impeachment of high
treason was voted against this subject, the first both in
rank and in favor throughout the kingdom. Though this
incident, considering the example' of Strafford's impeach-
ment and the present disposition of the natiori and Pai-
liament, needed be no surprise to him, yet was he betrayed
into some passion when the accusation was presented.
" The Commons themselves/' he said, " though his accusers,
did not believe him guilty of the' crimes with which they
charged him." An iridiscretion which, next day, upon
more mature deliberation, he desired leave to retract ; but
so little favorable were' the Peers that they refused him
this advantage or indulgence. Laud also was immediately,
upon this general charge, sequestered from Parliament and
committed to custody.*
The capital article insisted on against these two great
men was the design, which the Commons supposed to have
been formed, of subverting the laws and constitution of
England, and intt-oducing arbitrary and unlimited authority
into the kingdom. Of all the king's ministers, no one was
so obnoxious in this respect as the lord keeper Finch. He
it was who, being speaker in the king's third Parliament,
had left the chair and refused to put the question when
ordered by the House. The extra-judicial opinion of the
judges in the case of ship-money had been procured by his
mtrigues, persuasions, and even menaces. In all unpopular
and illegal measures he was ever most active ; and he was
even believed to have declared publicly that while he was
keeper an order of council should always with him be
equivalent to a law. To appease the rising displeasure of
the Commons, he desired to be heard at their bar. He
prostrated himself with all humility before them ; but this
submission availed him nothing. An impeachment was
resolved on ; and, in order to escape their fury, he thought
proper secretly to withdraw and retire into Holland. As
8 Clarendon, vol. i. p. 177. Whitlocke, p. 38. Busliwortli, vol. iii. p. 1365.
248 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
he was not ecteemed equal to Strafford, or even to Laud,
either in capacity or in fidelity to his master, it was gen-
erally believed that his escape had been connived at by the
popular leaders.' His impeachment, however, in his ab-
sence was carried up to the House of Peers.
Sir Francis Windebank, the secretary, was a creature of
Laud's — a sufficient reason for his being extremely obnoxious
to the Commons. He was secretly suspected, too, of the
crime of popery; and it was known that, from complaisance
to the queen, and, indeed, in compliance with the king's
maxims of government, he had granted many indulgences
to Catholics, and had signed warrants for the pardon of
priests, and their delivery from confinement. Grimstone, a
popular member, called him, in the House, the very pander
and broker to the whore of Babylon.^ Finding that the
scrutiny of the Commons was pointed towards him, and
being sensible that England was no longer a place of safety
for men of his character, he suddenly made his escape into
France.'
Thus, in a few weeks, this House of Commons, not op-
posed, or rather seconded, by the Peers, had produced such
a revolution in the government that the two most powerful
and most favored ministers of the king were thrown into
the Tower and daily expected to be tried for their life.
Two other ministers had, by flight alone, saved themselves
from a like fate. All the king's servants saw that no pro-
tection could be given them by their master. A new juris-
diction was erected in the nation ; and before that tribunal
all those trembled who had before exulted most in their
credit and^uthority.
What rendered the power of the Commons more for-
midable was the extreme prudence with which it was con-
ducted. Not content with the authority which they had
acquired by attacking these great ministers, they were re-
solved to render the most considerable bodies of the nation
obnoxious to them. Though the idol of the people, tliey
determined to fortify themselves likewise with terrors, and
to overawe those who might still be inclined to support the
falling ruins of a monarchy.
During the late military operations, several powers had
been exercised by the lieutenants and deputy-lieutenants of
counties ; and these powers, though necessary for the de-
' Clfireiiclon, vol. i. p. 177 WWtlocto, p. 38. Kusllworth, vol. i, pp. 120 1.36.
« KusUwortb, vol. v. p. 122. « Cl.aeniloii, vol. i. p. 178. Wbillockc, p. 37.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 249
fence of the nation, and even warranted by all former pre-
cedent, yet not being authorized by statute, were now voted
to be illegal, and the persons who had assumed them de-
clared delinquents. This term was newly come into vogue,
and expressed a degree or species of guilt not exactly known
or ascertained. In consequence of that determination,
many of the nobility and prime gentry of the nation, while
only exerting, as they justly thought, the legal powers of
magistracy, unexpectedly found themselves involved in the
crime of delinquency. And the Commons reaped this mul-
tiplied advantage by their vote : they disarmed the crown ;
they established the maxims of rigid law and liberty ; and
they spread the terror of their own authority.^"
The writs for ship-money had been directed to the
sheriffs, who were required, and even obliged, under severe
penalties, to assess the sums upon individuals, and to levy
them by their authority. Yet were all the sheriffs, and all
those who had been employed in that illegal service, voted,
by a very rigorous sgntence, to he delinquents. The king,
by the maxims of law, could do no wrong. His ministers
and servants, of whatever degree, in case of any violation
of the constitution, were alone culpable."
All the farmers and officers of the customs, who had
been employed during so many years in levying tonnage
and poundage and the new impositions, were likewise de-
clared criminals, and were afterwards glad to compound for
a pardon by paymg a fine of one hundred and fifty thou-
sand pounds.
Every discretionary or arbitrary sentence of the Star-
chamber and high commission — courts which, from their
very constitution, were arbitrary — underwent a severe scru-
tiny; and all those who had concun-ed in such sentences
were voted to be liable to the penalties of law.^^ No min-
ister of the king, no member of the council, but found him-
self exposed by this decision.
The judges who had given their vote against Hambden,
in the trial of ship-money, were accused before the Peers,
and obliged to find siirety for their appearance. Berkeley, |
a judge of the king's Bench, was seized by order of the !
House, even when sitting in his tribunal ; and all men saw
with astonishment the irresistible authority of their juris- '
diction.'^
The sanction of the Lords and Commons, as well as that
i« Clarendon, vol. i. r. 176 " rbicl.
>2 Clareiiilun, tol. i. i>. 177. >» Wliitloclce, p, 39.
250 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
of the king, was declared necessary for the confirmation of
ecclesiastical canons." And this judgment, it must be con-
fessed, however reasonable, at least useful, it would have
been difficult to justify by any precedent.^^ But the present
was no time for question or dispute. That decision which
abolished all legislative power, except that of Parliament,
was requisite for completing the new plan of liberty and
rendering it quite uniform and systematical. Almost all
the bench of bishops, and the most considerable of the
inferior clergy who had voted in the late convocation,
found themselves exposed by these new principles to the
imputation of delinquency."
The most unpopular of all Charles's measures, and the
least justifiable, was the revival of monopolies, so solemnly
abolished, after reiterated endeavors, by a recent act_ of
Parliament. Sensible of this unhappy measure, the king
had of himself recalled, during the time of his first expedi-
tion against Scotland, many of these oppressive patents;
and the rest were now annulled by authority of Parliament,
and every one who was concerned in them declared delin-
quents. The Commons carried so far their detestation of
this odious measure that they assumed a power which had
formerly been seldom practised," and they expelled all their
members who were monopolists or projectors — an artifice
rby which, besides increasing their own privileges, they
/ weakened still further the very small party which the king
y secretly retained in the House. Mildmay, a notorious mo-
^ nopolist, yet having associated himself with the ruling
party, was still allowed to keep his seat^ In all questions,
indeed, of elections, no steady rule' of decision was ob-
served ; and nothing further waiS regarded than the affec-
/tions and attachments of the parties.'^ Men's passions were
'Itoo much heated to be shocked with any instance of injus-
itice, which served ends so popular as those which were pur-
,Bued by this House of Commons.
The vwhgle sovereign powei* Jjeing tlms_2n_auJiianner
" Nalsoti, vol. i. p. 678.
>5 All act of Parliament, 26 Hen. VIII. cap. 19, allowed the convocation, with
the king's consent, to make canons. Ry the famous act of submission to that
prince, the clergy hound themselves to enact no canons without tlie king's con-
sent. The Parliament was never mentioned nor thought of. Such pretensions
as the Commons advanced at present would in any former age have been deemed
strange usurpations.
'» Clarendon, vol. i. p. 20S. Whitlooke, p. 37. Eushworth, vol. v. pp. 235, 069.
Nalson, vol. i- p. 807.
1' Lord Clarendon says it was entirely new ; but there are instances of it in
the reign of Elizabeth. — D'Ewes, pp. 296, 352. There are also instances in the
reign of James. " Clarendon, vol. i. p. 176.
HISTORY OF EKSLAND. 251
transferred to the Commons, and the government, without
any seeming violence or disorder, being changed in a mo-
ment from a monarchy almost absolute to a pure democ-
racy, the popular leaders seemed willing for some time to
suspend their active vigor, and to consolidate their author-
ity ere they proceeded to any violent exercise of it. Every
day produced some new harangue on past grievances. The
detestation of former usurpations was further enlivened ;
the jealousy of liberty roused ; and, agreeably to the spirit
of free government, no less indignation was excited by the
view of a violated constitution than by the ravages of the
most enormous tyranny.
This was the time when genius and capacity of all kinds,
freed from the restraint of authority and nourished by un-
bounded hopes and projects, began to exert themselves,
and be distinguished by the public. Then was celebrated
the sagacity of Pym, more fitted for use than ornament —
matured, not chilled, by his advanced age and long experi-
ence ; then was displayed the mighty ambition of Ilambden,
taught disguise, not moderation, from former constraint;
supported by courage, conducted by prudence, embellished
by modesty; but whether founded in a love of power or
zeal for liberty is still, from his untimely end, left doubtful
and uncertain ; then, too, were known the dai'k, ardent,
and dangerous character of St. John ; the impetuous spirit
of Hollis, violent and sincere, open and entire in his en>
mities and in his friendships; the enthusiastic genius of
young Vane,- extravagant in the ends which he pursued^
sagacious and profound in the means which he employed,
incited by the appearances of religion, negligent of the
duties of moralityv
So little apology woutd be received for past raeastiifes, so
contagious the geiieral spirit of discontent, that even! men
of the most moderate tempers, and the most attached to the
Church and monarchy, exerted themselves with the utmost
vigor in the redress of grievances, and in' prosecuting the
authors of them. The lively and animated Digby displayed
his eloquence on this occasion, the firm and undaunted Capel,
the modest and candid Palmer. In this list, too, of pati-iot
royalists are found the virtuous names of Hyde and Falkland.
Though in their ultimate views and intentions these men
differed widely from the former, in their present actions
and discourses an entire concurrence and unanimity was
observed.
252 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
By the daily harangues and invectives against illegal
usurpations, not only the House of Commons inflamed them-
selves with the highest animosity against the court ; the
nation caught new fire from the popular leaders, and seemed
now to have made the first discovery of the many supposed
disorders in the government. While the law in several in-
stances seemed to be violated, they went no further than
some secret and calm murmtirs ; but mounted up into rage
and fury as soon as the constitution was thought to be re-
stored to its former integrity and vigor. The capital espe-
cially, being the seat of Parliament, was highly animated with
the spirit of mutiny and disaffection. Tumults were daily
raised, seditious assemblies encouraged ; and every man,
neglecting his own business, was wholly intent on the defence
of liberty and religion. By stronger contagion, the popular
affections were communicated from bi-east to breast, in this
place of general rendezvous and society.
The harangues of members, now first published and dis-
persed, kept alive the discontents against the king's adminis-
tration. The pulpits, delivered over to puritanical preachers
and lecturers, whom the Commons arbitrarily settled in all
the considerable churches, resounded with faction and fanati-
cism. Vengeance was fully taken for the long silence and
constraint in which, by the authority of Laud and the high
commission, these preachers had been retained. The press,
fi-eed from all fear or reserve, swarmed with productions
dangerous by their seditious Zealand calumny more than by
any art or eloquence of composition. Noise and fury, cant
and hypocrisy, formed the sole rhetoric which, during this
tumult of various prejudices and j)assions, could be heard or
attended to.
The sentence which had been executed against Prynne,
Bastwic, and Burton, now suffered a revisal from Parliament.
These libellers, far from being tamed by the rigorous punish-
ments which they had undergone, showed stitl a disposition
of repeating their offence ; and the ministers were afraid
lest new satires should issue from their prisons, and still
further infiame the prevailing discontents. By an order,
therefore, of council, they had been carried to remote prisons
— Bastwic to Scilly, Prynne to Jersey, Burton to Guernsey ;
all access to them was denied ; and the use of books, and of
pen, ink, and paper, was refused them. The sentence for
/ these additional punishments was immediately ]-eversed
, in au arbitrary manner by the Commons; even tlie first sen-
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 253
tence, upon examination, was declared illegal, and the judges
who passed it were ordered to make reparation to the suf-
ferers.^' Wlien the prisoners landed in England, they were
received and entertained with the highest demonstrations of
affection, were attended by a mighty confluence of company,
their charges were boi'ne with great magnificence, and liberal
presents bestowed on them. On their approach to any town,
all the inhabitants crowded to receive them, and welcomed
their reception with shouts and acclamations. Their train
still increased as they drew nigh to London. Some miles
from the city, the zealots of their party met them in great
multitudes, and attended theirtriumphant entrance. Boughs
were carried in this tumultuous procession ; the roads were
strewn with flowers, and amid the highest exultations of joy
were intermingled loud and virulent invectives against the
prelates who had so cruelly persecuted such godly person-
ages.'-"' The more ignoble these men were, the more sensible
was the insult upon royal authority, and the more dangerous
was the spirit of disaffection and mutiny which it discovered
among the people.
Lilburne, Leighton, and every one that had been pun-
ished for seditious libels during the preceding administration,
now recovered their liberty, and were decreed damages from
the judges and ministers of justice.^^
Not only the present disposition of the nation insured
impunity to all libellers ; a new method of framing and dis-
persing libels was invented by the leaders of popular discon-
tent. Petitions to Parliament were drawn, craving redress
against particular grievances; and when a sufficient number
of subscriptions were procured, the petitions were presented
to the Commons and immediately published. These peti-
tions became secret boifds of association among the sub-
scribers, and seemed to give undoubted sanction and author-
ity to the complaints which they contained.
It is pretended by historians favorable to the royal
cause,^^ and is even asserted by the king himself in a declara-
tion,^' that a most disingenuous or rather criminal practice
prevailed in conducting many of these addresses. A petition
was first framed — moderate, reasonable, such as men of
character willingly subscribed. The names were afterwards
torn off and affixed to another petition which served better
" Nalson, vol. i. p. 783. May, p. 79.
2» Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 199, 200, etc. Nalson, toI. 1. p. 570. May, p. 80.
21 Eushworth, vol. v. p. 228. Nalson, vol, i. p. 800.
22 Dugdale. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 203. 23 Husb. Col. p. 536.
254 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
the purposes of the popular faction. We may judge of the
wild fury which prevailed throughout the nation when so
scandalous an imposture, which affected such numbers of
people, could be openly practised without drawing infamy
and ruin upon the managers.
So many grievances were offered, both by the members
and by petitions without-doors, that the House was divided
into above forty committees, charged each of them with the
examination of some particular violation of law and liberty
which had been complained of. Besides the general com-
mittees of religion, trade, privileges, laws, many subdivisidns
of these were framed, and a strict scrutiny was everywhere
carried on. It is to be remarked that, before tlie beginning
of this century, when the Commons assumed less influence
and authority, complaints of grievances were usually pre-
sented to the House by any members who had had particular
opportunity of observing them. These general committees,
which were a kind of inquisitorial courts, had not then been
established ; and we find that the king, in a former declara-
tion,^ complains loudly of this innovation, so little favorable
to royal authority. But never was so much multiplied as
at present the use of these committees ; and the Commons,
though themselves the greatest innovators, employed the
usual artifice of complaining against innovations, and pre-
tending to recover the- ancient and established governipept.
From the reports of their committees, the IJouse daily
passed votes, which mortified and astonished the court, and
inflamed and animated the nation. Ship-money was declared
illegal and arbitrary ; the sentence against Hambden can-
celled ; the Court of York abolished ; compositions for
knighthood stigmatized; the enlargement of the forests
condemned ; patents for monopolies annulled ; and every
late measure of administration treated with reproach and
obloquy. To-day, a sentence of the Star-chamber was ex-
claimed against; to-morrow, a decree of the high commission.
Every discretionary act of council was represented as arbi-
trary and tyrannical; and the general inference was still
inculcated that a formed design had been laid to subvert
the laws and constitution of the kingdom.
From necessity, the king remained entirely passive
during all these violent operations. The few servants who
continued faithful to him were seized with astonishment at
M Published on dissolving the third Parliament. See Parliamentary History,
vol. Tiii. p. 347.
HISTOET op ENGLAND. 255
the rapid progress made by the Commons in power and
popularity, and were glad, by their inactive and inoffensive
behavior, to compound for impunity. The torrent rising to
so dreadful and unexpected a height, despair seized all those
who, from interest or habit, were most attached to monarchy.
And as for those who maintained their duty to the king
merely from their regard to the constitution, they seemed
by their concurrence to swell that inundation which began
already to deluge everything. " You have taken the whole
machine of government in pieces," said Charles, in a dis-
course to the Parliament ; " a practice frequent with skilful
artists when they desire to clear the wheels from any rust
which may have grown upon them. The engine," continued
he, "may again be restored to its former use and motions,
provided it be put up entire, so as not a pin of it be want-
ing." But this was far from the intention of the Commons.
The machine, they thought, with some reason, was encum-
bered with many wheels and springs which retarded and
crossed its operations and destroyed its utility. Happy had
they proceeded with moderation, and been contented, in
their present plenitude of power, to remove such parts only
as might justly be deemed superfluous and incongruous !
In order to maintain that high authority which they had
acquired, the Commons, besides confounding and overawing
their opponents, judged it requisite to inspire courage into'? '■
their friends and adherents — particularly into the Scots, and i
the religious Puritans, to whose assistance and good office&v
they were already so much beholden.
No sooner were the Scots masters of the northern coun-
ties than they laid aside their first professions — which they
had not, indeed, means to support — of paying for every-
thing ; and, in order to prevent the destructive expedient
of plunder and free quarters, the country consented to give
them a regular contribution of eight hundred and fifty
pounds a day, in full of their subsistence.'^^ The Parliament,
that they might relieve the northern counties from so griev-
ous a burden, agreed to remit pay to the Scottish as well as
to the English army ; and because subsidies would be levied
too slowly for so urgent an occasion, money was borrowed
from the citizens upon the security of particular members.
Two subsidies, a very small sum,^" were at first voted ; and
as the intention of this supply was to indemnify the mtm-
25 Knshworth, vol. lii. p. 129.1.
^ It appears that a subsidy was now fallen to fifty thousand pounds.
256 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
bei's who, by their private, had supported public credit, this
pretence was immediately laid hold of, and the money was
ordered to be paid, not into the treasury, but to commission-
ers appointed by Parliament — a practice which, as it dimin-
ished the authority of the crown, was willingly embraced,
and was afterwards continued by the Commons with regard
to every branch of revenue which they granted to the king.
The invasion of the Scots had evidently been the cause of
assembling the Parliament ; the presence of their army re-
duced the king to that total subjection in which he was now
held ; the Commons, for this reason, openly professed their
intention of retaining these invaders, till all their own en-
emies should be suppressed, and all their purposes effected.
" We cannot yet sjiare the Scots," said Strode, plainly, in
the House ; " the sons of Zeruiah are still too strong for
us." '" An allusion to a passage of Scripture, according to
the mode of that age. Eighty thousand pounds a month
were requisite for the subsistence of the two armies — a sum
much greater than the subject had ever been accustomed,
in any former period, to pay to the public. And though
several subsidies, together with a poll-tax, were from time
to time voted to answer the charge, the Commons still took
care to be in debt, in order to render the continuance of the
session the more necessary.
The Scots being such useful allies to the malcontent
party in England, no wonder they were courted with the
most unlimited complaisance and the most important ser-
vices. The king having, in his first speech, called them
rebels, observed that he had given great offence to the Par-
liament ; and he was immediately obliged to soften, and
even retract, the expression. The Scottish commissioners,
of whom the most considerable were the Earl of Rothes and
Lord Loudon, found every advantage in conducting their
treaty, yet made no haste in bringing it to an issue. They
were lodged in the city, and kept an intimate correspondence,
as well with the magistrates who were extremely disaffected
as with the popular leaders in both Houses. St. Antlioline's
church was assigned them for their devotions ; and their
chaplains here began openly to ])ractise the Presbyterian
form of worship, which, except in foreign languages, had
never hitherto been allowed any indulgence or toleration,
So violent was the general propensity towards this new re-
ligion that multitudes of all ranks crowded to the church.
" Dugdale, p. Tl.
HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. 257
Those who were bo happy as to find access early in the
morning kept their places the whole day ; those who were
excluded clung to the doors or windows, in hopes of catch-
ing, at least, some distant murmur or broken phrases of the
holy rhetoric.^ All the eloquence of Parliament, now well
refined from pedantry, animated with the spirit of liberty,
and employed in the most important interests, was not at-
tended to with such insatiable avidity as were these lectures,
delivered with ridiculous cant, and a provincial accent full
of barbarism and of ignorance.
The most effectual expedient for paying court to the
zealous Scots was to promote the Presbyterian discipline
and worship throughout England ; and to this innovation
the popular leaders among the Commons, as well as their
more devoted partisans, were, of themselves, sufiiciently in-
clined. The puritanical party, whose progress, though
.secret, had hitherto been gradual in the kingdom, tafcingi
advantage of the present disorders, began openly to profess
their tenets and to make furious attacks on the established
reUgion. The prevalence of that sect in the Parliament
discovered itself, from the beginning, by insensible but
decisive symptoms. Marshall and Burgess, two puritanical
clergymen, were chosen to preach before them, and enter-
tained them with discourses seven hours in length."" It
being the custom of the House always to take the sacrament
before they enter upon business, they ordered as a necessary
preliminary that the communion-table should be removed
from the east end of St. Margaret's into the middle of the
area.*" The name of the spiritual lords was commonly left
out in acts of Parliament; and the laws ran in the name of
King, Lords, and Commons. The clerk of the Upper House,
in reading bills, turned his back on the bench of bishops ;
nor was his insolence ever taken notice of. On a day ap-
pointed for a solemn fast and humiliation, all the orders of
temporal peers, contrary to former practice, in going to
church, took place of the spiritual ; and Lord Spencer re-
marked that the humiliation, that day, seemed confined
alone to the prelates.
Every meeting of the Commons produced some vehe-
ment harangue against the usurpations of the bishops, against
the high commission, against the late convocation, against
the new canons. So disgusted were all lovers of civil
^ Clarendon, vol. i. p. 189.
2» Nalson, vol. i. dp. 530, 633. "> Nalson, vol. i. p. 537.
Vol. IV.— 17
258 HISTOBY OP ENGLAND.
liberty at the doctrines promoted by the clergy that these
invectives were received without control ; and no distinc-
tion, at first, appeared between such as desired only to re-
press the exorbitances of the hierarchy and such as pre-
tended totally to annihilate episcopal jurisdiction. En-
couraged by these favorable appearances, petitions against
the Church were framed in different parts of the kingdom.
The epithet of the ignorant and vicious priesthood was
commonly applied to all churchmen addicted to the estab*
lished discipline and worship, though the episcopal clergy in
England, during that age, seem to have been, as they are
at present, sufficiently learned and exemplary. An address
against episcopacy was presented by twelve clergymen to
the committee of religion, and pretended to be signed by
many hundreds of the puritanical persuasion. But what
made most noise was the city petition for a total alteration
of Church government — a petition to which fifteen thou-
sand subscriptions were annexed, and which was presented
by Alderman Pennington, the city member.^' It is remark-
able that among the many ecclesiastical abuses there com-
plained of, an allowance given by the licensers of books to
publish a translation of Ovid's Art of Love is not forgotten
fby these rustic censors.'^
j Notwithstanding the favorable disposition of the people,
; the leaders in the House resolved to proceed with caution.
I They introduced a bill for prohibiting all clergymen the ex-
I ercise of any civil office. As a consequence, the bishops
were to be deprived of their seats in the House of Peers — a
, measure not unacceptable to the zealous friends of liberty, '
'who observed with regret the devoted attachment of that
order to the will of the monarch. But when this bill was
presented to the Peers, it was rejected by a great majority ^
— the first check which the Commons had received in their
popular career, and a prognostic of what they might after-
wards expect from the upper House, whose inclinations and
interests could never be totally separated from the throne.
But to show how little they were discouraged, the Puritans
immediately brought in another bill for the total abolition
of episcopacy ; though they thought proper to let the bill
sleep at present, in expectation of a more favorable oppor-
tunity of reviving it."*
Among other acts of regal executive power which the
'1 Clarendon, Tol. i. p. 203. Wliitlocke, p. 37. Nalson, vol. i, p. 666.
"2 KuBhworth, vol. v p. 171. sa Clarendon, vol. i. p. 237. »» Ibid.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 259
Commons were every day assuming, they issued orders for
demolishing all images, altars, crucifixes. The zealous Sir
Robert Harley, to whom the execution of these orders was
committed, removed all crosses even out of streets and
markets; and, from his abhorrence of that superstitious
figure, would not anywhere allow one piece of wood or stone
to lie over another at right angles.^^
The Bishop of Ely and other clergymen were attacked
on account of innovations.^^ Cozens, who had long been
obnoxious, was exposed to new censures. This clergyman,
who was Dean of Peterborough, was extremely zealous for
ecclesiastical ceremonies ; and so far from permitting the
communicants to break the sacramental bread with their
fingers, a privilege on which the Puritans strenuously in-
sisted,,he would not so much as allow it to be cut with an
ordinary household instrument. A consecrated knife must
perform that sacred ofBce, and must never afterwards be
profaned by any vulgar service."
Cozens likewise was accused of having said, "The king-
has no more authority in ecclesiastical matters than the boy
who rubs my horse's heels." '* The expression was violent;
but it is certain that all those High-Churchmen who were
so industrious in reducing the laity to submission were ex-
tremely fond of their own privileges and independency, and
were desirous of exempting the mitre from all subjection to
the crown.
A committee was elected by the lower House as a court
of inquisition upon the clergy, and was commonly denomi-
nated the committee of scandalous ministers. The politi-
cians among the Commons were apprised of the great im-
portance of the pulpit for guiding the people; the bigots
were enraged against the prelatical clergy ; and both of them
knew that no established government could be overthrown
by strictly observing the principles of justice, equity, or
clemency. The proceedings, therefore, of this famous com-
mittee, which continued for several years, were cruel and
arbitrary, and made great havoc both on the Church and the
universities. They began with harassing, imprisoning, and
molesting the clergy ; and ended with sequestrating and
ejecting them. In order to join contumely to cruelty, they
gave the sufferers the epithet of scandalous, and endeavored:
'= Whitlocke, p. 45.
'« Rushworth, vol. v. p. 351. ^ RuBhwortli, vol. p. 203.
'^ Parliamentary Histoiy, vol. v'i. p. 282. Eushworlh, vol. v. p. 209.
260 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
to render them as odious as they were miserable.^' The
greatest vices, however, which they could reproach to a
great part of them were bowing at the name of Jesus, plac-
ing the communion-table in the east, reading the king's
orders for sports on Sunday, and other practices which the
established government, both in Church and State, had
strictly enjoined them.
It may be worth observing that all historians who lived
near that age, or, what perhaps is more decisive, all authors
who have casually made mention of those public transac-
tions, still represent the civil disorders and convulsions as
proceeding from religious controversy, and consider the
political disputes about power and liberty as entirely sub-
ordinate to the other. It is true, had the king been able to
support government, and at the same time to abstain from
all invasion of national privileges, it seems not probable that
the Puritans ever could have acquired such authority as to
overturn the whole constitution ; yet so entire was the sub-
jection into which Charles was now fallen that, had not the
wound been poisoned by the infusion of theological hatred,
it must have admitted of an easy remedy. Disuse of par-
liaments, imprisonments and prosecution of members, shin-
money, an arbitrary administration — these were loudly
complained of ; but the grievances which tended chiefly to
inflame the Parliament and nation, especially the latter,
were the surplice, the rails placed about the altar, the bows
exacted on approaching it, the liturgy, the breach of the
Sabbath, embroidered copes, lawn sleeves, the use of the I'ing
in marriage and of the cross in baptism. On account of
these were the popular leaders content to throw the govern-
ment into such violent convulsions ; and, to the disgrace of
that age and of this island, it must be acknowledged that
the disorders in Scotland entirely, and those in England
mostly, proceeded from so mean and contemptible an origin.^"
Some persons, partial to the patriots of this age, have
ventured to put them in balance with the most illustrious
characters of antiquity, and mentioned the names of Pym,
Hambden, Vane, as a just parallel to those of Cato, Brutus,
s» Clarendon, toI. i. p. 199. Wliitlocke. p. 122. May, p. SI.
"> Lord Clarendon, vol. I. p. 233, says that the parliamentary party were not
agreed about the entire abolition of episcopacy ; they wei'e only the roof-aud-
hranch men, as they_ .wore called, who insisted on that measure. But those who
were willing to retain bishops insisted on reducing their authority to a low ebb,
as well as on abolishing the ceremonies of worship and vestments of the clergy.
The controversy, therefore, between the parties was almost wholly theological,
and that of the most frivolous and ridiculous kind.
HISTOBT OF ENGLAND. 261
Cassius. Profound capacity, indeed undaunted courage, ex-
tensive enterprise — in these particulars, perhaps, the Roman
do not much surpass the English worthies; but Avhat a
difference when the discourse, conduct, conversation, and
private as well as public behavior of both are inspected !
Compare only one circumstance, and consider its conse-
quences. The leisure of those noble ancients was totally
employed in the study of Grecian eloquence and philosophy,
in the cultivation of polite letters and civilized society.
The whole discourse and, lan'guage of the moderns were
polluted with mysterious jargon, and full of the lowest and
most vulgar hypocrisy.
The laws, as they stood at present, protected the Church,
but they exposed the Catholics to the utmost rage of the
Puritans ; and these unhappy religionists, so obnoxious to
the prevailing sect, could not hope to remain long unmolest-
ed. The voluntary contribution which they had made, in
order to assist the king in his war against the Scottish
Covenanters, was inquired into, and represented as the
greatest enormity.*^ By an address from the Commons, all
officers of that religion were removed from the army, and
application was made to the king for seizing two thirds of
the lands of recusants — a proportion to which, by law, he
was entitled, but which he had always allowed them to
possess upon easy compositions. The execution of the severe
and bloody laws against priests was insisted on; and one
Goodman, a Jesuit, who was found in prison, was condemned
to a capital punishment. Charles, however, agreeably to his
principles, scrupled to sign the warrant for his execution,
and the Commons expressed great resentment on the occa-
sion.*^ There remains a singular petition of Goodman,
begging to be hanged rather than prove a source of con-
tention between the king and his people.*' He escaped
with his life ; but it seems more probable that he was over-
looked amid affairs of greater consequence than that such
unrelenting hatred would be softened by any consideration
of his courage and generosity.
For some years. Con, a Scotchman, afterwards Rosetti,
an Italian, had openly resided at London, and frequented
the court, as vested with a commission from the pope. The
queen's zeal, and her authority with her husband, had been
« Bushworth, vol. v. p. 160.
« Bnshworth, vol. v. pp. 158, 169. Nalson. TOl. i. p. 739.
« Eushworth, vol. v. p. 166. Nalson, vol. i. p. 749.
262 niSTOET OF England.
the cause of this imprudence, so offensive to the nation/^
But the spirit of bigotry now rose too high to permit any
longer such indulgences.^*
Hayward, a justice of peace, having been wounded,
when employed in the exercise of his ofKce, by one James,
a Catholic madman, this enormity was ascribed to the
popery, not to the frenzy, of the assassin ; and great alarms
seized the nation and Parliament.^^ A universal conspiracy
of the Papists was supposed to have taken place ; and every
man, for some days, imagined that he had a sword at his
throat. Though some persons of family and distinction
were still attached to the Catholic superstition, it is certain
that the numbers of that sect did not amount to the fortieth
part of the nation ; and the frequent panics to which men,
during this period, were so subject on account of the Cath-
olics were less the effects of fear than of extreme rage and
aversion entertained against them.
The queen-mother of France, having been forced into
banishment by some court intrigues, had retired into Eng-
land, and expected shelter, amid her pi'esent distresses, in
the dominions of her daughter and son-in-law. But though
she behaved in the most inoffensive manner, she was in-
sulted by the populace on account of her religion, and was
e\'en threatened with worse treatment. The Earl of Hol-
land, Lieutenant of Middlesex, had ordered a hundred
musketeers to guard her ; but finding that they had imbibed
the same prejudices with the rest of their countrymen, and
were unwillingly employed in such a service, he laid the
case before the House of Peers ; for the king's authority was
now entirely annihilated. He represented the indignity of
the action that so great a princess, mother to the King of
France and to the Queens of Spain and England, should be
affronted by the multitude. He observed the indelible re-
proach which would fall upon the nation if that unfortunate
queen should suffer any violence from the misguided zeal of
the people. He urged the sacred rights of hospitality due
to every one, much more to a person in distress, of so high
a rank, with whom the nation was so nearly connected.
« It is now known from the Clarendon papers that the king had also an au-
thorized agent who resided at Rome. His name was Bret, and his chief business
was to negotiate with the pope concerning indulgences to the Catholics, and to
engage the Catholics in return to be good and loyal subjects. But this whole
matter, though very innocent, was most carelully kept secret. The king says
that he believed Bret to be as much his as any Papist could be. See pp. 348, 354.
*3 RuBhworth, vol. v. p. 301,
'« Clarendon, vol. i. p. 249. Eushworth, vol. p. 57.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 263
The Peers thought proper to communicate the matter to the
Commons, whose authority over the people was absolute.
The Commons agreed to the necessity of protecting the
queen-mother, but at the same time prayed that she might
be desii'ed to depart the kingdom, "for the quieting those
jealousies in the hearts of his majesty's well-affected sub-
jects, occasioned by some ill instruments about the queen's
person, by the flowing of priests and Papists to her house,
and by the use and practice of the idolatry of the mass, and
exercise of other -superstitious services of the Romish
Church, to the great scandal of true religion." ^' .
Chaiies, in the former part of his reign, had endeavored j
to overcome the intractable and encroaching spirit of the |
Commons by a perseverance in his own measures, by a '
stately dignity of behavior, and by maintaining at their ut- j
most height, and even perhaps stretching beyond former
precedent, the rights of his prerogative. Finding, by ex- [ i
perience, how unsuccessful those measures had proved, and
observing the low condition to which he was now reduced,
he resolved to alter his whole conduct, and to regain the
confidence of his people by pliableness, by concessions, and
by a total conformity to their inclinations and prejudices.
It may safely be averred that this new extreme into which
the king, for want of proper counsel or support, was fallen,
became no less dangerous to the constitution and pernicious
to public peace than the other in which he had so long and
so unfortunately persevered.
The pretensions with regard to tonnage and poundage
were revived, and with certain assurance of success, by the
Commons.** The levying of these duties, as formerly, with-
out consent of Parliament, and even increasing them at
pleasure, was such an incongruity in a free constitution,
where the people, by their fundamental privileges, cannot
be taxed but by their own consent, as could no longer be
endured by these jealous patrons of liberty. In the pre-
amble, therefore, to the bill by which the Commons granted
these duties to the king, they took care, in the strongest and
most positive terms, to assert their own right of bestowing
this gift, and to divest the crown of all independent title of
assuming it. .And that they might increase, or rather finally
« Bushwortli, vol. v. p. 267.
^8 It appears not that the Commons, though now entirely masters, abolished
the new impositions of James, against which they had formerly so loudly com-
plained—a certain proof that the rates of customs settled by that prince were in
most instances just, and proportioned to the new price of commodities. They
seem rather to have been low. See Journal, August 10, 1625.
264 HISTOET OP ENGLAND.
fix, the entire dependence and subjection of the king, they
voted these duties only for two months, and afterwards,
from time to time, renewed their grants for very short
periods.^^ Charles, in order to show that he entertained no
intention ever again to separate himself from his Parlia-
ment, passed this important bill without any scruple or
hesitation.^
With regard to the bill for triennial parliaments, he
made a little diiBculty. By an old statute, passed during
the reign of Edward III., it had been enacted that parlia-
ments should be held once every year, or more frequently
if necessary ; but, as no provision had been made in case of
failure, and no precise method pointed out for execution,
this statute had been considered merely as a general dec-
laration, and was dispensed with at pleasure. The defect
was supplied by those vigilant patriots who now assumed
the reins of government. It was enacted that if the chan-
cellor, who was first bound under severe penalties, failed to
issue writs by the 3d of September in every third year, any
twelve or more of the Peers should be empowered to exert
this authority ; in default of the Peers, that the sheriffs,
mayors, bailiffs, etc., should summon the voters ; and in
their default, that the voters themselves should meet and
proceed to the election of members, in the same manner as
if writs had been regularly issued from the crown. Nor
could the Parliament, after it was assembled, be adjourned,
prorogued, or dissolved without their own consent, duiing
the space of fifty days. By this bill some of the noblest
and most valuable prerogatives of the crown were re-
trenched ; but at the same time nothing could be more nec-
essary than such a statute for completing a regular plan of
law and liberty. A great reluctance to assemble parlia-
ments must be expected in the king, where these assemblies,
as of late, established it as a maxim to carry their scrutiny
into every part of government. During long intermissions
of Parliament, grievances and abuses, as was found by re-
cent experiences, would naturally creep in ; and it would
even become necessary for the king and council to exert a
great discretionery authority, and by acts of state to supply
m eveiy emergency, the legislative power, whose meeting
„., " F n™^ an instraotion given by the Honse to the committee which framed
one of these bills to take care that the rates npon exportation may be a" lieht as
S?fnfl!;n^^' """;; ™P°rtation as heavy as trade will bea ""Uproot thatthlnat^
"'^®r.''l^'""'^?"'®'"'San now to be understood. Journal, June 1 1641
'>" Clarendon, vol. i. p. 208.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 265
was SO uncertain and precarious. Charles, finding that
nothing less would satisfy his Parliament and people, at
last gave his assent to this bill, which produced so great an
innovation in the constitution.^^ Solemn thanks were pre-
sented him by both Houses ; great rejoicings were expressed
both in the city and throughout the nation ; and mighty
professions were everywhere made of gratitude and mutual
returns of supply and confidence. This concession of the
king, it must be owned, was not entirely voluntary ; it was
of a nature too important to be voluntary. The sole in-
ference which his partisans were entitled to draw from the
submissions so frankly made to present necessity was, that
he had certainly adopted a new plan of govei-nment, and
for the future was resolved, by every indulgence, to acquire
the confidence and affections of his people.
Charles thought that what concessions were made to the
public were of little consequence if no gratifications were
bestowed on individuals who had acquired the direction of
public counsels and determinations. A change of ministers
as well as of measures was therefore resolved on. In one
day several new privy-councillors were sworn — the Eai-ls of
Hertford, Bedford, Essex, Bristol ; the Lords Say, Saville,
Kimbolton ; within a few days after was admitted the Earl
of Warwick.'^ All these noblemen were of the popular
party, and some of them afterwards, when matters were
pushed to extremities by the Commons, proved the greatest
support of monarchy.
Juxon, Bishop of London, who had never desired the
treasurer's staff, now earnestly solicited for leave to resign
it, and retire to the care of that turbulent diocese commit-
ted to him. The king gave his consent ; and it is remark-
able that during all the severe inquiries carried on against
the conduct of ministers and prelates, the mild and prudent
virtues of this man, who bore both these invidious charac-
ters, remained unmolested.*' It was intended that Bedford,
a popular man of great authority as well as wisdom and
moderation, should succeed Juxon ; but that nobleman, un-
fortunately both for king and people, died about this very
time. By some promotions, place was made for St. John,
who was created solicitor-general. HolHs was to be made
secretary of state, in the room of Windebank, who had fled;
Pym, chancellor of the exchequer, in the room of Lord Cot-
=1 Clarendon, vol. i. p. 209. Whitlocke, p. 39. Kushworth, vol. t. p. 189.
K Clarendon, Tol. i. p. 195. '* Warwick, p. 95.
266 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
tington, who had resigned ; Lord Say, master of the wards,
in the room of the same nobleman ; the Earl of Essex, gov-
ernor ; and Hambden, tutor to the prince.^^
What retarded the execution of these projected changes
was the difficulty of satisfying all those who, from their
activity and authority in Parliament, had pretensions for
offices, and who still had it in their power to embarrass and
distress the public measures. Their associates, too, in pop-
ularity, whom the king intended to distinguish by his favor,
were unwilling to undergo the reproach of having driven a
separate bargain, and of sacrificing to their own ambitious
views the cause of the nation. And as they were sensible
that they must owe their preferment entirely to their weight
and consideration in Parliament, they were most of them
resolved still to adhere to that assembly, and both to pro-
mote its authority and to preserve their own credit in it.
On all occasions, they had no other advice to give the king
than to allow himself to be directed by his great council;
or, in other words, to resign himself passively to their guid-
ance and government. And Charles found that, instead of
acquiring friends by the honors and offices which he should
bestow, he should only arm his enemies with more power to
hurt him.
The end on which the king was most intent in changing
ministers was to save the life of the Earl of Strafford, and
to mollify by these indulgences the rage of his most furious
prosecutors. But so high was that nobleman's reputation
for experience and capacity that all the new councillors and
intended ministers plainly saw that if he escaped their ven-
geance, he must return into favor and authority ; and they
regarded his death as the only security which they could
have both for the establishment of their present power and
for success in their future enterprises. His impeachment,
therefore, was pushed on with the utmost vigor ; and, after
.long and solemn preparations, was brought to a final issue.
I Immediately after Strafford was sequestered from Par-
liament and confined in the Tower, a committee of thirteen
IjWas chosen by the lower House, and intrusted with the
office of preparing a charge against him. These, joined to
\a small committee of Lords, were vested with authority to
examine all witnesses, to call for every paper, and to use
any means of scrutiny with regard to any part of the earl's
behavior and conduct.^* After so general and unbounded
« Clarendon, vol. 1. pp. 210, 211. ■* Clarendon, vol, i. p. 192.
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 267
an inquisition, exercised by such powerful and implacable
enemies, a man must have been very cautious or very inno-
cent not to afford, during the whole course of his life, some
matter of accusation against him.
This committee, by direction from both Houses, took an
oath of secrecy — a practice very unusual, and which gave
them the appearance of conspirators more than ministers of
justice.** But the intention of this strictness was to render
it more difficult for the earl to elude their search, or prepare
for his justification.
Application was made to the king that he would allow
this committee to examine privy-councillors with i-egard to
opinions delivered at the board — a concession which Charles
unwarily made, and which thenceforth banished all mutual
confidence from the deliberations of council, where every
man is supposed to have entire freedom, without fear of
future punishment or inquiry, of proposing any expedient,
questioning any opinion, or supporting any argument."
Sir George Ratcliffe, the earl's intimate friend and con-
fidant, was accused of high treason, sent for from Ireland,
and committed to close custody. As no charge ever ap-
peared, or was prosecuted against him, it is impossible to
.give a more charitable interpretation to this measure than
that the Commons thereby intended to deprive Strafford,
in his present distress, of the assistance of his best friend,
who was most enabled by his testimony to justify the inno-
cence of his patron's conduct and behavior.*"
When intelligence arrived in Ireland of the plans laid
for Strafford's ruin, the Irish House of Commons, though
they had very lately bestowed ample praises on his admin-
istration, entered into all the violent counsels against him,
and prepared a representation of the miserable state into
which, by his misconduct, they supposed the kingdom to be
fallen. They sent over a committee to London to assist in
the prosecution of their unfortunate governor ; and by inti-
mations from this committee, who entered into close con-
federacy with the popular leaders in England, was every
measure of the Irish Parliament governed and directed.
Impeachments, which were never prosecuted, were carried
up iigainst Sir Richard. Bolton, the chancellor; Sir Gerard
Louther, chief-justice; and Bramhall, Bishop of Derry.*'
This step, which was an exact counterpart to, the proceed-
M Whitlocke, p. 37. " Clarendon, vol. 1. p. 193.
M Clarendon, vdl. i. p. 214. ^ Kushworth, vol. i. p. 214.
268 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND.
ings in England, served also the same purposes : it deprived
the king of the ministers whom he most trusted ; it discour-
aged and terrified all the other ministers ; and it prevented
those persons who were best acquainted with Strafford's
counsels from giving evidence in his favor before the Eng-
lish Parliament.
The bishops, being forbidden by the ancient canons to
assist in trials for life, and being unwilling, by an opposi-
tion, to irritate the Commons, who were already much prej-
udiced against them, thought proper of themselves to witli-
draw.™ The Commons also voted that the new-created
peers ought to have no voice in this trial ; because the accu-
sation being, agreed to while they were commoners, their con-
sent to it was implied, with that of all the Commons of Eng-
land. Notwithstanding this decision, which was meant only
to deprive Strafford of so many friends. Lord Seymour and
some others still continued to keep their seats; nor was their
right to it any further questioned.^*
To bestow the greater solemnity on this important trial,
scaffolds were erected in Westminster Hall; where both
Houses sat, the one as accusers, the other as judges. Be-
sides the chair of state, a close gallery was prepared for the
king and queen, who attended during the whole trial.^^
An accusation carried on by the united effort of three
kingdoms against one man, unprotected by power, unassisted
by counsel, discountenanced by authority, was likely to prove
a very unequal contest ; yet such were the capacity, genius,
presence of mind, displayed by this magnanimous statesman,
that, while argument and reason and law had any place, he
obtained an undisputed victory. And he perished at last,
overwhelmed and still unsubdued, by the open violence of
his fierce and unrelenting antagonists.
[1641.] The articles of impeachment against Strafford
are twenty-eight in number ; and regard his conduct, as
president of the Council of York, as deputy or lieutenant of
Ireland, and as councillor or commander in England. But
though four months were employed by the managers in
framing the accusation, and all Strafford's answers were
extemporary, it appears from comparison, not only that he
was free from the crime of treason, of which there is not
the least appearance, but that his conduct, making allow-
'»> Clarendon, vol. i. p. 216. si Ibid.
«2 Whitlocke, p. 40. Kushworth, vol. Iv. p. 41. May, p. 90.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 269
ance for human frailties, exposed to such severe scrutiny,
was innocent, and even laudable.
The powers of the northern council, while he was presi-
dent, had been extended by the king's instructions beyond
what formerly had been practised ; but that court being at
first instituted by a stretch of royal prerogative, it had been
usual for the prince to vary his instructions ; and the larg-
est authority committed to it was altogether as legal as the
most moderate "and most limited. Nor was it reasonable to
conclude that Strafford had used any art to procure those
extensive powers ; since he never once sat as president, or
exercised one act of jurisdiction after he was invested with
the authority so much complained of.*'
In the government of Ireland, his administration had
been equally promotive of his master's interest and that of
the subjects committed to his care. A large debt he had
paid off ; he had left a considerable sum in the exchequer ;
the revenue, which never before answered the charges of
government, was now raised to be equal to them ; ^ a small
standing army, formerly kept in no order, was augmented,
and was governed by exact discipline ; and a great force
was there raised and paid for the support of the king's au-
thority against the Scottish Covenanters.
Industry and all the arts of peace were introduced
among that nide people ; the shipping of the kingdom aug-
mented a hundred-fold ; ** the customs tripled upon the
same rates ; ^* the exports double in value to the imports ;
manufactures, particularly that of linen, introduced and
promoted ; *' agriciilture, by means of the English and
Scottish plantations, gradually advancing ; the Protestant
religion encouraged, without the persecution or discontent
of the Catholics.
The springs of authority he had enforced without over-
straining them. Discretionary acts of jurisdiction, indeed,
he had often exerted, by holding courts-raartial, billeting
soldiers, deciding causes upon paper petitions before the
council, issuing proclamations, and punishing their infrac-
tion. But discretionary authority during that age was
usually exercised even in England. In Ireland it was still
more requisite, among a rude people not yet thoroughly
subdued, averse to the religion and manners of their con-
'^ Rush worth, vol. it. p. 145.
"* Eusliworth, vol. iv. pp. 120, 247. Warwick, p. 115.
05 Nalson, TOl. ii. p. 45. '" Eushworth, vol. Iv. p. 124. "' Warwick, p. 115.
270 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
querors, ready on all occasions to relapse into rebellion and
disordei-. While the managers of the Commons demanded,
every moment, that the deputy's conduct should be exam-
ined by the line of rigid law and severe principles, he ap-
pealed still to the practice of all former deputies, and to the
uncontrollable necessity of his situation.
So great was his art of managing elections and balanc-
ing parties that he had engaged the Irish Parliament to vote
whatever was necessary, both for the paylnent of former
debts and for support of the new-levied army ; nor had he
ever been reduced to the illegal expedients practised in
England, for the supply of public necessities. No ini] uta-
tion of rapacity could justly lie against his administration.
Some instances of imperious expressions, and even actions,
may be met with. The case of Lord Mountnorris, of all
those which were collected with so much industry, is the
most flagrant and the least excusable.
It had been reported at the table of Lord Chancellor
Loftus that Annesley, one of the deputy's attendants, in
moving a stool, had sorely hurt his master's foot, who was
at that time afflicted with the gout. " Perhaps," said
Mountnorris, who was present at table, " it was done in
re\'enge of that public affi-ont which my lord deputy for-
merly put upon him ; but he has a brother who would not
have taken such a revenge." This casual, and seemingly in-
nocent, at least ambiguous, expression was reported to
Strafford, who, on pretence that such a suggestion might
prompt Annesley to avenge himself in another manner, or-
dered Mountnorris, who was an ofiicer, to be tried by a
court-martial for mutiny and sedition against his general.
The court, which consisted of the chief officers of the array,
found the crime capital, and condemned that nobleman to
lose his head.^°
In vain did Strafford plead, in his own defence, against
this article of impeachment that the sentence of Mountnor-
ris was the deed, and that too unanimous, of the court, not
the act of the deputy ; that he spake not to a member of
the court, nor voted in the cause, but sat uncovered as a
party, and then immediately withdrew, to leave them to
their freedom ; that, sensible of the iniquity of the sentence,
he procured his majesty's free pardon to Mountnorris ; and
that he did not even keep that nobleman a moment in sus-
pense with regard to his fate, but instantly told him that he
™ Ro^wortli, vol. iv. p. 187.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 271
himself would sooner lose his right hand than execute such
a sentence, nor was his lordship's life in any danger. In
vain did Strafford's friends add, as a further apology, that
Mountnorris was a man of an infamous character, who paid
court by the lowest adulation to all deputies while present,
and blackened their character by the vilest calumnies when
recalled ; and that Strafford, expecting like treatment, had
used this expedient for no other purpose than to subdue the
petulant spirit of the man. These excuses alleviate the
guilt ; but there still remains enough to prove that the
mind of the deputy, though great and firm, had been not a
little debauched by the riot of absolute power and uncon-
trolled authority.
When Strafford was called over to England, he found
everything fallen into such confusion by the open rebellion
of the Scots and the secret discontents of the English, that,
if he had counselled or executed any violent measure, he
might, perhaps, have been able to apologize for his conduct
from the great law of necessity, which admits not, while
the necessity is extreme, of any scruple, ceremony, or de-
lay .*' But, in fact, no illegal advice or action was proved
against him ; and the wh61e amount of his guilt during this
period was some peevish, or at most imperious, expressions
which, amid such desperate extremities and during a bad
state of health, had unhappily fallen from him.
If Strafford's apology was, in the main, so satisfactory
when he pleaded to each particular article of the charge,
his victory was still more decisive when he brought the
whole together and repelled the imputation of treason, the
crime which the Commons would infer from the full view
of his conduct and behavior. Of all species of guilt, the
law of England had, with the most scrupulous exactness,
defined that of treason ; because on that side it was found
most necessary to protect the subject against the violence
of the king and of his ministers. In the famous statute of
Edward III. all the kinds of treason are enumerated, and
every other crime, besides such as are there expressly men-
tioned, is carefully excluded from that appellation. But
with regard to this guilt, "an endeavor to subvert the
fundamental laws," the statute of treasons is totally silent ;
aind arbitrarily to introduce it into the fatal catalogue is it-
self a subversion of all law ; and, under color of defending
liberty, reverses a statute the best calculated for the security
«" Kushworth, vol. iv. p. 559.
272 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
of liberty that had ever been enacted by an English Parlia-
ment.
As this species of treason, discovered by the Commons,
is entirely new and unknown to Jhe laws, so is the species
of proof by which they pretend to fix that guilt upon the
prisoner. They have invented a kind of accumulative or
constructive evidence, by which many actions, either totally
innocent in themselves or criminal in a much inferior degree,
shall, when united, amount to treason, and subject the per-
son to the highest penalties inflicted by the law. A hasty
and unguarded word, a rash and passionate action, assisted
by the malevolent fancy of the accuser, and tortured by
doubtful constructions, is transmuted into the deepest
guilt; and the lives and fortunes of the whole nation, no
longer protected by justice, are subjected to arbitrary will
and pleasure.
" Where has this species of guilt lain so long concealed ? "
said Strafford, in conclusion ; " where has this fire been so
long bui'ied, during so many centuries, that no smoke should
appear till it burst out at once, to consume me and my chil-
dren? Better it were to live under no law at all, and, by
the maxim of cautious prudence, to conform ourselves, the
best we can, to the arbitrary will of a master than fancy
we have a law on which we can rely, and find at last that
this law shall inflict a punishment precedent to the promul-
gation, and try us by maxims unheard of till the very
moment of the prosecution. If I sail on the Thames, and
split my vessel on an anchor, in case there be no buoy to
give warning, the party shall pay me damages ; but if the
anchor be marked out, then is the striking on it at my own
peril. W here is the mark set upon this crime ? where the
token by which I should discover it? It has lain concealed
under water ; and no human prudence, no human innocence,
could save me from the destruction with which I am at
present threatened.
" It is now full two hundred and forty years since trea-
sons were defined ; and so long has it been since any man
was touched to this extent upon this crime before myself.
We have lived, my lords, happily to ourselves at home ; we
have lived gloriously abroad to the world. Let us be con-
tent with what our fathers have left us ; let not our ambition
carry us to be more learned than they were in these killing
and destructive arts. Great wisdom it will be in your lord-
ships, and just providence for yourselves, for your poster-
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 273
ities, for the whole' kingdom, to cast from you into the fire
these bloody and mysterious volumes of arbitrary and con-
structive treasons, as the primitive Christians did their
books of curious arts, and betake yourselves to the plain
letter of the statute, which tells you where the crime is,
and points out to you the path by which you may avoid it.
"Let us not, to our own destruction, awake those sleep-
ing lions by rattling up a company of old records, which
have lain for so many ages by the wall forgotten and neg-
lected. To all my afflictions add not this, my lords, the
most severe of any — that I for my other sins, not for my
treasons, be the means of introducing a precedent so per-
nicious to the laws and liberties of my native country.
" However, these gentlemen at the bar say they speak
for the commonwealth, and they believe so; yet, under
favor, it is I who, in this particular, speak for the common-
wealth. Precedents like those which are endeavored to be
established against me must draw along such inconveniences
and miseries that, in a few years, the kingdom will be in
the condition expressed in a statute of Henry IV., and no
man shall know by what rule to govern his words and
actions.
" Impose not, my lords, difficulties insurmountable upon
ministers of state,-nor disable them from serving with cheer-
fulness their king and country. If you examine them, and
under such severe penalties, by every grain, by every little
weight, the scrutiny will be intolerable. The public affairs
of the kingdom must be left waste ; and no wise man who
has any honor or fortune to lose will ever engage himself
in such dreadful, such unknown perils.
"My lords, I have now troubled your lordships a great
deal longer than I should have done. Were it not for the
interest of these pledges, which a saint in heaven left me,
I should be loath — " Here he pointed to his children, and
his weeping stopped him. " What I forfeit for myself, it is
nothing ; but, I confess, what my indiscretion should forfeit
for them, it wounds me very deeply. You will be pleased
to pardon my infirmity : something 1 should have said, but
I -see I shall not be able, and therefore I shall leave it.
"And now, my lords, I thank God I have been, by his
blessing, sufficiently instructed in the extreme vanity of all
temporary enjoyments compared to the importance of our
eternal duration. And so, my lords, even so, with all
humility, and with all tranquillity of mind, I submit, clearly
Vol. IV.— Id
274 HISTOKT OF ENGLAND.
and freely, to your judgments ; and whether that righteous
doom shall be to life or death, I shall repose myself, full of
gratitude and confidence, in the arms of the great Author
of my existence." "'
"Certainly," says Whitlocke," with his usual candor,
"never any man acted such a part, on such a theatre, with
more wisdom, constancy, and eloquence, with greater rea^
son, judgment, and temper, and with a better grace in all
his words and actions, than did this great and excellent per-
son ; and he moved the hearts of all his auditors, some few
excepted, to remorse and pity." It is remarkable that the
historian who expresses himself in these terms was himself
chairman of that committee which conducted the impeach-
ment against this unfortunate statesman. The accusation
and defence lasted eighteen days. The managers divided
the several articles among them, and attacked the prisoner
with all the weight of authority, with all the vehemence of
rhetoric, with all ihe accuracy of long preparation. Straf-
ford was obliged to speak with deference and reserve
towards his most inveterate enemies, the Commons, the
Scottish nation, and the Irish Parliament. He took only a
very short time, on each article, to recollect himself ; yet
he alone, without assistance, mixing modesty and humility
with firmness and vigor, made such a defence that the Com-
mons saw It impossible, by a legal prosecution, ever to
obtain a sentence against him.
But the death of Strafford was -too important a stroke
of party to he left unattempted by any expedient, however
extraordinary. Besides the great genius and authority of
that minister, he had threatened some of the popular
leaders with an impeachment ; and had he not himself been
suddenly prevented by the impeachment of the Commons,
he had, that very day, it was thought, charged Pym, Harab-
den, and others with treason, for having invited the Scots
to invade England. A bill of attainder was therefore
brought into the lower House immediately after finishing
these pleadings ; and preparatory to it a new proof of the
earl's guilt was produced, in order to remove such scruples
as might be entertained with regard to a method of pro-
ceeding so unusual and irregular.
Sir Henry Vane, secretary, had taken some notes of a
debate in council after the dissolution of the last Parlia-
ment; and, being at a distance, he had sent the keys of
™ KuBh worth, vol. iv. p. 659, etc. " Page 41.
HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. 275
his cabinet, as was pretended, to his son, Sir Henry, in
order to search for some papers which was necessary for'
completing a marriage settlement. Young Vane, falling
upon this paper of notes, deemed the matter of the utmost
importance ; and immediately communicated it to Pym,
who now produced the paper before the House of Com-
mons. The question before the council was, "Offensive
or defensive war with the Scots." The king proposes this
difficulty, "But how can I undertake offensive war if I
have no more money?" The answer ascribed to Strafford
was in these words: "Borrow of the city a hundred thou-
sand pounds ; go on vigorously to levy ship-money. .Your
majesty having tried the affections of your people, you are
absolved and loose from all rules of government, and may
do what power will admit. Your majesty, having tried all
ways, shall be acquitted before God and man. And you
have an army in Ireland, which you may employ to reduce
this kingdom to obedience ; for I am confident the Scots
cannot hold out five months." There followed some coun-
sels of Laud and Cottington, equally violent, with regard
to the king's being absolved from all rules of government.'^
This paper, with all the circumstances of its discovery
and communication, was pretended to be equivalent to two
witnesses, and to be an unanswerable proof of those per-
nicious counsels of Strafford which tended to the subversion
of the laws and constitution. It was replied by Strafford
and his friends that old Vane was his most inveterate and
declared enemy; and if the secretary himself, as was by far
most probable, had willingly delivered to his son this paper of
notes, to be communicated to Pym, this implied such a breach
of oaths and of trus,t as rendered him totally unworthy
of all credit. That the secretary's deposition was at first
exceedingly dubious : upon two examinations he could not
remember any such words ; even the third time his testi-
mony was not positive, but imported only that Strafford
had spoken such or such-like words ; and words may be
very like in sound, and differ much in sense ; nor ought the
lives of men to depend upon grammatical criticisms of any
expressions, much less of those which had been delivered by
the speaker without premeditation, and committed by the
hearer for any time, however short, to the uncertain record
of memory. That in the present case, changing this king-
dom into that kingdom, a very slight alteration, the earl's
" Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 223, 229, 230, etc. Whitlooke, p. 41. May, p. 93.
276 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
discourse could regard nothing but Scotland, and implies no
advice unworthy of an English councillor. That even re-
taining the expression this kingdom, the words may fairly
be understood of Scotland, which alone was the kingdom
that the debate regarded, and which alone had thrown off
allegiance, that could be reduced to obedience. That it
could be proved, as well by the evidence of all the king's,
ministers as by the known disposition of the forces, that the
intention never was to land the Irish army in England, but
in Scotland. That of six other councillors present. Laud
and Windebank could give no evidence ; Northumberland,
Hamilton, Cottington, and Juxon could recollect no such
expression ; and the advice was too remarkable to be easily
forgotten. That it was nowise probable such a desperate
counsel would be openly delivered at the board, and before
Northumberland, a person of that high rank, and whose at-
tachments to the court were so much weaker than his con-
nections with the country. That though Northumberland,
and he alone, had recollected some such expression as thai
" of being absolved from rules of government," yet in such
desperate extremities as those into which the king and
kingdom were then fallen, a maxim of that nature, allowing
it to be delivered by Strafford, may be defended upon prin-
ciples the most favorable to law and liberty. And that
nothing could be more iniquitous than to extract an accusa-
tion of treason from an opinion simply proposed at the
council-table, where all freedom of debate ought to be per-
mitted, and where it was not unusual for the members, in
order to draw forth the sentiments of others, to propose
counsels very remote from their own secret advice and
judgment."
I The evidence of Secretary Vane, though exposed to
I such insurmountable objections, was the real cause of Straf-
ford's unhappy fate, and made the bill of attainder pass the
ICommons with no greater opposition than that of fifty-nine
^dissenting votes. But there remained two other branches
of the legislature — the King and the Lords — whose assent
was requisite ; and these, if left to their free judgment, it
was easily foreseen, would reject the bill without scruple
or deliberation. To overcome this difficulty, the popular
leaders employed expedients, for which they were beholden
jiartly . to their own industry, partly to the indiscretion of
their adversaries.
" EuBljworth, vol. iv. p. 560.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 277
Next Sunday after the bill passed the Commons, the
puritanical pulpits resounded with declamations concerning
the necessity of executing justice upon great delinquents.'^
The populace took the alarm. About six thousand men,
armed with swords and cudgels, flocked from the city, and
surrounded the Houses of Parliament.'"' The names of the
fifty-nine Commoners who had voted against the bill of at-
tainder were posted up under the title of " Straffordians,
and betrayers of their country." These were exposed to all
the insults of the ungovernable multitude. When any of
the Lords passed, the cry tov Justice against Strafford re-
sounded in their ears ; and such as were suspected of friend-
ship to that obnoxious minister were sure to meet with
menaces not unaccompanied with symptoms of the most
desperate resolutions in the furious populace."
Complaints in the House of Commons being made against
these violences, as the most flagrant breach of privilege, the
ruling members, by their affected coolness and indifference,
showed plainly that the popular tumults were not disagree-
able to them." But a new discovery, made about this time,
served to throw everything into still greater flame and com-
bustion.
Some principal ofiicers — Piercy, Jermyn, O'Neale, Gor-
ing, Wilmot, Pollard, Ashburnham — partly attached to the
court, partly disgusted with the Parliament, had formed a
plan of engaging into the king's service the English army,
whom they observed to be displeased at some marks of
preference given by the Commons to the Scots. For this
purpose, they entered into an association, took an oath of
secrecy, and kept a close correspondence with some of the
king's servants. The form of a petition to the king and
Parliament was concerted ; and it was intended to get this
petition subscribed by the army. The petitioners there re-
present the great and unexampled concessions made by the
king for the security of public peace and liberty ; the end-
less demands of certain insatiable and turbulent spirits,
whom nothing less will content than a total subversion of
the ancient constitution ; the frequent tumults which these
factious malcontents had excited, and which endangered the
liberty of Parliament. To prevent these mischiefs, the
army offered to come up and guard that assembly. " So
" Whitlocke, p. 43. '= Ibid.
™ Clarendon, vol. i- pp. 232, 256. Kushworth. vol. v. pp. 248, 1279.
" Whitlocke, ut supra.
278 HISTOET OF ElfGLAND.
shall the nation," as they express themselves in the con-
clusion, " not only be vindicated from preceding innovations,
but be secured from the future, which are threatened, and
which are likely to produce more dangerous effects than tlie
former.'"' The draught of this petition being conveyed to
the king, he was prevailed on somewhat imprudently to
countersign it himself as a mark of his approbation. But as
several difficulties occurred, the project was laid aside two
months before any public discovery was made of it.
It was Goring who betrayed the secret to the popular
leaders. The alarm may easily be imagined which this
intelligence conveyed. Petitions from the military to the
civil power are always looked on as disguised, or rather un-
disguised, commands; and are of a nature widely different
from petitions presented by any other rank of men. Pym
opened the matter in the House.™ On the first intimation
of a discovery, Piercy concealed himself, and Jermyn with-
drew beyond sea. This further confirmed the suspicion of
a dangerous conspiracy. Goring delivered his evidence be-
fore the House. Piercy wrote a letter to his brother
Northumberland, confessing most of the particulars.*" Both
their testimonies agree with regard to the oath of secrecy ;
and, as this circumstance had been denied by Pollard, Ash-
burnham, and Wilmot, in all their examinations, it was re-
garded as a new proof of some desperate resolutions which
had been taken.
To convey more quickly the terror and indignation at
this plot, the Commons voted that a protestation should be
signed by all the members. It was sent up to the Lords,
and signed by all of them, except Southampton and Robarts.
Orders were given by the Commons alone, without other
authoi'ity, that it should be subscribed by the whole nation.
The protestation was in itself very inoffensive, even insig-
nificant, and contained nothing but general declarations that
the subscribers would defend their religion and liberties ; *^
but it tended to increase the popular panic, and intimated,
what was more expressly declared in the preamble, that
these blessings were now exposed to the utmost peril.
Alarms were every day given of new conspiracies.''^ In
Lancashire, great multitudes of Papists were assembling ;
secret meetings were held by them in caves and under-
" Clarendon, vol. i. p. 247. Whitlocke, p. 43. ™ Eushwortli, vol. y. p. 240.
8» Kushworth, vol. v. p. 265.
81 Clarendon, vol. i. p. 262. Eushvrorth, vol. v. p. 241. Warwick, p. 180.
'' Dugdale, p. 69. Franklyn, p. 901.
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 279
ground, in Surrey ; they had entered into a plot to blow up
the river with gunpowder, in order to drown the city ;*' pro-
visions of arms were making beyond sea ; sometimes France,
sometimes Denmark, was forming designs against the king-
dom ; and the populace, who are always terrified with pres-
ent, and enraged with distant dangers, were still further ani-
mated in their demands of justice against the unfortunate
Strafford.
The king came to the House of Lords ; . and, though he
expressed his resolution — for which he offered them any
security — never again to employ Strafford in any branch of
public business, he professed himself totally dissatisfied with
regard to the circumstance of treason, and on that account
declared his difficulty in giving his assent to the bill of at-
tainder.** The Commons took fire, and voted it a breach of
privilege for the king to take notice of any bill depending
before the Houses. Charles did not perceive that his attach-
ment to Strafford was the chief motive for the bill ; and
that the greater proofs he gave of anxious concern for this
minister, the more inevitable did he render his destruction.
About eighty peers had constantly attended Strafford's
trial ; but such apprehensions were entertained on account
of the popular tumiults that only forty-five were present
when the bill of attainder was brought into the House,
yet, of these, nineteen had the courage to vote against it ^ —
a certain proof that if entire freedom had been allowed, the
bill had been rejected by a great majority.
In carrying up the bill to the Lords, St. John, the solicitor-
general, advanced two topics well suited to the fury of the
times : that though the testimony against Strafford were
not clear, yet, in this way of bill, private satisfaction to each
man's conscience was sufficient, even should no evidence at
all be produced ; and that the earl had no title to plead law,
because he had broken the law. " It is true," added he,
" we give law to hares and deer ; for they are beasts of
chase. But it was never accounted either cruel or unfair to
destroy foxes or wolves wherever they can be found, for
they are beasts of prey." ^
After popular violence had prevailed over the Lords the
same battery was next applied to force the king's assent.
The populace flocked about "Whitehall, and accompanied
their demand of justice with the loudest clamors and most
83 Sir Edward Walker, p. S49. ' « Eushworth, vol. v. p. 239.
•» Whitlooke, p. 43. » Clarendon, vol. i. p. 232.
280 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
open menaces. Rumors of conspiracies against the Parliament
were anew spread abroad ; invasions and insurrections talked
of ; and the whole nation was raised into such a ferment as
threatened some great and imminent convulsion. On which-
ever side the king cast his eyes, he saw no resource or se-
curity. All his servants, consulting their own safety rather
than their master's honor, declined interposing with their
advice between him and his Parliament. The queen, ter-
rified with the appearance of so mighty a danger, and bear-
ing formerly no good-will to Strafford, was in tears, and
pressed him to satisfy his people in this demand, which, it
was hoped, would finally content them. Juxon alone, whose
courage was not inferior to his other virtues, ventured to
advise him, if in his conscience he did not approve of the
bill, by no means to assent to it."
Strafford, hearing of Charles's irresolution and anxiety,
took a very extraordinary step. He wrote a letter, in which
he entreated the king, for the sake of public peace, to put
an end to his unfortunate, however innocent, life, and to
quiet the tumultuous people by granting them the request
for which they were so importunate.'* " In this," added he,
" my consent will more acquit you to God than all the world
can do besides. To a willing man there is no injury. And
as, by God's grace, I forgive all the world with a calmness
and meekness of infinite contentment to my dislodging soul,
so, sir, to you I can resign the life of this world with all
imaginable cheerfulness, in the just acknowledgment of
your exceeding favors." Perhaps Strafford hoped that this
unusual instance of generosity would engage the king still
more strenuously to protect him. Perhaps he gave his life
for lost ; and, finding himself in the hands of his enemies,
and observing that Balfour, the lieutenant of the Tower,
was devoted to the popular party, '^ he absolutely despaired
of ever escaping the multiplied dangers with which he was
every way environed. We might ascribe this step to a
noble effort of disinterestedness, not unworthy the great
mind of Strafford, if the measure which he advised had not
been, in the event, as pernicious to his master as it was im-
mediately fatal to himself."
After the most violent anxiety and doubt, Charles at last
granted a commission to four noblemen to give the royal as-
87 Clarendon, vol. i. p. 257. Warwick, p. 160.
'8 Clarendon, vol. i. p. 258. Eusliwortli, vol. v. p. 251.
e» Whitlocke, p. 44. Franklyn, p. 8%.
»» See note [B] at end of tlie volume.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 281
sent, in his name, to the bill ; flattering himself, probably,
in this extremity of distress, that, as neither his will con-
sented to the deed, nor was his hand immediately engaged in
it, he was the more free from all the guilt which attended
it. These commissioners he empowered, at the same time,
to give his assent to the bill which rendered the Parliament
perpetual.
The Commons, from policy rather than necessity, had
embraced the expedient of paying the two armies by bor-
rowing money from the city; and these loans they had
repaid afterwards by taxes levied upon the people. The
citizens, either of themselves or by suggestion, ls5gan to start
difiiculties with regard to a further loan that was demanded.
We make no scruple of trusting the Parliament, said they,
■were we certain that the Parliament were to continue till
our repayment. But in the present precarious situation of
affairs, what security can be given us for our money ? In
pretence of obviating this objection, a bill was suddenly
brought into the House, and passed with great unanimity
and rapidity, that the Parliament should not be dissolved, pro-
rogued, or adjourned, without their own consent. It was
hurried in like manner through the House of Peers, arid
was instantly carried to the king for his assent. Charles, in
the agony of grief, shame, and remorse for Strafford's doom,
perceived not that this other bill was of still more fatal con-
sequence to his authority, and rendered the power of his
enemies perpetual, as it was already uncontrollable.^^ In
comparison of the bill of attainder, by which he deemed him-
self an accomplice in his friend's murder, this concession
made no figure in his eyes '^ — a circumstance which, if it
lessen our idea of his resolution or penetration, serves to
prove the integrity of his heart and the goodness of his dis-
position. It is, indeed, certain that strong compunction for
his consent to Strafford's execution attended this unfortunate
prince during the remainder of his life ; and even at his own
fatal end the memory of this guilt, with great sorrow and
remorse, recurred upon him. All men were so sensible of
the extreme violence which was done him that he suffered
the less both in character and interest from this unhappy
measure ; and, though he abandoned his best friend, yet was
he still able to preserve in some degree the attachment of
all his adherents.
«' Clarendon, vol. i- pp. 261, 262. Eushworth, Tol. v. p. 264.
" See note [S] at the end oi the volume.
282 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
Secretary Carleton was sent by the king to inform
Strafford of the fin£(,l resolution which necessity had extorted
from him. The earl seemed surprised, and, starting up, ex-
claimed, in the words of the Scripture, "Put not your_ trust
in princes, nor in the sons of men ; for in them there is no
salvation.'"' He was soon able, however, to collect his
courage ; and he prepared himself to suffer the fatal sentence.
Only three days' interval was allowed him. The king, who
made a new effort in his behalf, and sent, by the hands of
the young prince, a letter addressed to the Peers, in which he
entreated them to confer with the Commons about a mitiga^
tion of Strafford's sentence, and begged at least for some
delay, was refused in both requests.'*
Strafford, in passing from his apartment to Tower-hill,
where the scaffold was erected, stopped under Laud's win-
dows, with whom he had long lived in intimate friendship,
and entreated the assistance of his prayers in those awful
moments which were approaching. The aged primate dis-
solved in tears ; and having pronounced, with broken voice,
a tender blessing on his departed friend, sank into the arms
of his attendants."^ Strafford, still superior to his fate,
moved on with an elated countenance, and with an air even
of greater dignity than what usually attended him. He
wanted that consolation which commonly supports those
who perish by the stroke of injustice and oppression. He
was not buoyed up by glory, nor by the affectionate com-
passion of the spectators. Yet his mind, erect and un-
daunted, found resources with in itself, and maintained its un-
broken resolution amid the terrors of death and the tri-
umphant exultations of his misguided enemies. His dis-
course on the scaffold was full of decency and courage.
" He feared," he said, " that the omen was bad for the in-
tended reformation of the state — that it commenced with
the shedding of innocent blood." Having bid a last adieu
to his brother and friends who attended him, and having
sent a blessing to his nearer relations who were absent,
" A.nd now," said he, " I have nigh done. One stroke will
make my wife a widow, my dear children fatherless, de-
prive my poor servants of their indulgent master, and sepa-
rate me from my affectionate brother and all my friends.
But let God be to you and them all in all ! " Going to dis-
robe and prepare himself for the block, "I thank God,"
said he, " that I am nowise afraid of death, nor am daunted
" Whitlocke, p 44. «* EuBliworth, vol. y . p. 265.
»s Nalson, vol. li. p. 198.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 283
V^ith any terrors ; but do as cheerfully lay down my head
at this time as ever I did when going to repose." With
one blow was a period put to his life by the executioner.^^
Thus perished, in the forty-ninth year of his age, the
Earl of Strafford, one of the most eminent personages that
has appeared in England. Though his death was loudly
demanded as a satisfaction to justice and an atonement for
the many violations of the constitution, it may safely be
affirmed that the sentence by which he fell was an enormity
greater than the worst of those which his implacable enemies
prosecuted with so much cruel industry. The people, in
their rage, had totally mistaken the proper object of their
resentment. All the necessities, or, more properly speaking,
the difficulties, by which the king had been induced to use
violent expedients for raising supply, were the result of
measures previous to Strafford's favor ; and if thay arose
from ill conduct, he, at least, was entirely innocent. Even
those violent expedients themselves, which occasioned the
complaint that the constitution was subverted, had been, all
of them, conducted, so far as appeared, without his counsel
or assistance. And whatever his private advice might be,^'
this salutary maxim he failed not often and publicly to in-
culcate in the king's presence, that if any inevitable neces-
sity ever obliged the sovereign to violate the laws, this
license ought to be practised with extreme reserve, and, as
soon as possible, a just atonement be made to the constitution
for any injury which it might sustain from such dangerous
precedents.'* The first Parliament after the Restoration re-
versed the bill of attainder ; and even a few weeks after
Strafford's execution this very Parliament remitted to his
children the more severe consequences of his sentence, as if
conscious of the violence with which the prosecution had
been conducted.^^
In vain did Charles- expect, as a return for so many in-
stances of unbounded compliance, that the Parliament would
at last show him some indulgence, and would cordially fall
into that unanimity to which, at the expense of his owu
power and of his friend's life, he so earnestly courted them.
All his concessions were poisoned by their suspicion of his
■want of cordiality ; and the supposed attempt to engage the
^ Euahworth, TOl. v. p. 267.
s' That Straflord was secretly no enemy to arbitrary counsels, appears from
some of his letters and despatches, particularly vol. ii. p. 60, where he seems to
wish that a standing army were established.
»« EuBhworth, tS. iv. pp. 567, 568, 569, 670.
284 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
army against them served with many as a confirmation of
this jealousy. It was natural for the king to seek some re-
source while all the world seemed to desert him or combine
against him; and this probably was the utmost of that
embryo scheme which was formed with regard to the army.
But the popular leaders still insisted that a desperate plot
was laid to bring up the forces immediately and offer vio-
lence to the Parliament — a design of which Piercy's evidence
acquits the king, and which the near neighborhood of the
Scottish army seems to render absolutely impracticable.''
By means, however, of these suspicions was the same im-
placable spirit still kept alive ; and the Commons, without
giving the king any satisfaction in the settlement of his
revenue, proceeded to carry their inroads with great vigor
into his now defenceless prerogative.^'^
/^ The two ruling passions of this Parliament were zeal for
c^liberty and an aversion to the Church ; and to both of these
nothing could appear more exceptionable than the court of
high commission, whose institution rendered it entirely arbi-
trary, and assigned to it the defence of the ecclesiastical es-
tablishment. The Star-chamber also was a court which
exerted high discretionary powers, and had no precise rule
or limit, either with regard to the causes which came under
its jurisdiction or the decisions which it formed. A bill
unanimously passed the Houses to abolish these two courts,
and in them to annihilate the principal and most dangerous
■articles of the king's prerogative. By the same bill the
.jurisdiction of the council was regulated and its authority
abridged.^"^ Charles hesitated before he gave his assent.
But finding that he had gone too far to retreat, and that he
possessed no resource in case of a rupture, he at last affixed
the royal sanction to this excellent bill. But to show the
Parliament that he was sufficiently apprised of the impor-
tance of his grant, he observed to them that this statute
altered in a great measure the fundamental laws, ecclesias-
tical and civil, which many of his predecessors had estab-
lished.M^
01 The project of bringing up the army to London, according to Piercy, was
proposed to the king ; but he rejected it as foolish, because the Scots, who were
in arms, and lying in their neighborhood, must be at London as soon as the li^iig-
iish army. This reason is so solid and convincing that it leaves no room to
doubt of the veracity of Piercy's evidence, and consequently acquits the king of
this terrible plot of bringing up the army, which made such a noise at the time,
and was a pretence for so many violences.
lo" Clarendon, vol. i. p. 266.
i»i Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 283, 284. Wliitlocke, p. 47. Bushworth, vol. iii pp
1383, 1384. ™ Kushworth, vol. v. p. 307.
HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. 285
By removing the Star-chamber, the king's power of
binding the people by his proclamations was indirectly abol-
ished ; and that important branch of prerogative, the strong
symbol of arbitrary power, and unintelligible in a limited
constitution, being ^t last removed, left the system of gov-
ernment more consistent and uniform. The Star-chamber
alone was accustomed to punish infractions of the king's
edicts; but as no courts of judicature now remained, except
those in Westminster Hall, which take cognizance only of
common and statute law, the king may thenceforth issue
proclamations, but no man is bound to obey them. It must,
however, be confessed, that the experiment here made by
the Parliament was not a little rash and adventurous. No
government at that time appeared in the world, nor is per-
haps to be found in the records of any history, which sub-
sisted without the mixture of some ai-bitrary authority com-
mitted to some magistrate ; and it might reasonably, before-
hand, appear doubtful whether human society could ever!
reach that state of perfection as to support itself with no
other control than the general and rigid maxims of law and
equity. But the Parliament justly thought that the king
was too eminent a magistrate to be trusted with discretion-
ary power, which he might so easily turn to the destruction
of liberty. And in the event it has hitherto been found that
though some sensible inconveniences arise from the maxim
of adhering strictly to law, yet the advantages overbalance
them, and should render the English grateful to the memory
of their ancestors, who, after repeated contests, at last es-
tablished that noble though dangerous principle.
At the request of the Parliament, Charles, instead of the
patents during pleasure, gave all the judges patents during
their good behavior ; ^"^ a circumstance of the greatest mo-
ment towards securing their independence, and barring the
entrance of arbitrary power into the ordinary courts of
judicature.
The marshal's court, which took cognizance of offensive
words, and was not thought sufficiently limited by law, was
also, for that reason, abolished."^ The stannary courts,
which exercised jurisdiction over the miners, being liable to
a like objection, underwent a like fate. The abolition of
the Council of the North and the Council of Wales followed
from the same principles. The authority of the clerk of
the market, who had a general inspection over the weights
103 May, p. 107. ">' Nalaon, vol. i. p. 778.
286 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
and measures throughout the kingdom, was transferred to
the mayors, sheriffs, and ordinary magistrates.
In sho'rt, if we take a survey of the transactions of this
,-memorable Piirliaraent during the first period of its opera-
lions, we shall find that, excepting Strafford's attainder,
■/which was a complication of cruel iniquity, their meriis in
other respects so much overweigh their mistakes as to en-
title them to praise from all lovers of liberty. Not only
were former abuses remedied and grievances redressed —
great provision for the future was made by law against the
return of like complaints. And if the nieans by which they
obtained such advantages savor often of artifice, sometimes
of violence, it is to be considered that revolutions of govern-
ment cannot be effected by the mere force of argument and
reasoning, and that factions, being once excited, men can
neither so firmly regulate the tempers of others, nor their
own, as to ensure themselves against all exoi-bitances.
The Parliament now came to a pause. The king had
promised his Scottish subjects that he would this summer
pay them a visit, in order to settle their government; and
though the English Parliament was very importunate with
him, that he should lay aside that journey, they could not
prevail with him so much as to delay it. As he must neces-
sarily in his journey have passed through the troops of both
nations, the Commons seem to have entertained great jeal-
ousy on that account, and to have now hurried on, as much
as they formerly delayed, the disbanding of the armies.
The arrears, therefore, of the Scots, were fully paid them,
and those of the English in part. The Scots returned home,
and the English were separated into their several counties,
and dismissed.
After this the Parliament adjourned to the 20th of Oc-
tober ; and a committee of both Houses, a thing nnpi-ece-
dented, was appointed to sit during the recess with very
ample powers.'"^ Pym was elected chairman of the com-
mittee of the lower House. Further attempts were made
by the Parliament, while it sat, and even by the Commons
alone, for assuming sovereign executive powers and pub-
lishing their ordinances, as they called them, instead of
laws. The committee, too, on their part, was ready to imi-
tate the example.
A small committee of both Houses was appointed to
attend the king into Scotland, in order, as was pretended,
IOC Eushworth, vol. v. p. 387.
HISTORY OP ESTGLAND. 287
to, see that, the articles of pacification were executed, but
really to be spies upon him, and extend still further the
ideas of parliamentary authority, as well as eclipse the maj-
esty of the king. The Earl of Bedford, Lord Howard, Sir
Philip Stapleton, Sir William Armyne, Fiennes, and Hamb-
den were the persons chosen."^
Endeavors were used, before Charles's departure, to
have a protector of the kingdom appointed, with a power
to pass laws without having recourse to the king. So little
regard was now paid to royal authority or to the estab-
lished constitution of the kingdom.
Amid the great variety of affairs which occurred during
this busy period, we have almost overlooked the marriage
of the Princess Mary with William, Prince of Orange. The
king concluded not this alliance without communicating his
intentions to the Parliament, who received the proposal
with satisfaction.''"' This was the commencement of the
connections with the family of Orange ; connections which
were afterwards attended with the most important conse-
quences, both to the kingdom and to the house of Stuart.
iM Easliworth, vol. T. p. 376. i" WMtlocke, p. 38.
288 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER LV.
SETTLEMENT OF SCOTLAND. CONSPIEACT IN IRELAND. IN-
SUEKECTION AND MASSACRE. MEETING OF THE ENGLISH
PARLIAMENT. THE REMONSTRANCE. REASONS ON BOTH
SIDES. IMPEACHMENT OF THE BISHOPS. ACCUSATION
OP THE FIVE MEMBERS. TUMULTS. KING LEAVES LON-
DON. ARRIVES IN YORK. PREPARATIONS FOR CIVIL
WAR.
[1641.] The Scots, who began these fatal commotions,
thought that they had finished a very perilous undertaking,
much to their profit and reputation. ]3esides the large pay
voted them for lying in good quarters during a twelve-
month, the English Parliament had conferred on them a
present of three hundred thousand pounds for their broth-
erly assistance.^ In the articles of pacification they were
declared to have ever been good subjects, and their military
expeditions were approved of as enterprises calculated and
intended for his majesty's honor and advantage. To carry
further their triumph over their sovereign, these terms, so
ignominious to him, were ordered, by a vote of Parliament,
to be read in all churches upon a day of thanksgiving ap-
pointed for the national pacification;^ all their -claims for
the restriction of prerogative were agreed to be ratified ;
, and, what they more valued than all these advantages, they
/ had a near prospect of spreading the Presbylerian_discipline
j in England and Ireland",~from the seeds which they had
'-- scattered of their religious principles. Never did refined
j Athens so exult in diffusing the sciences and liberal arts
over a savage world, never did generous Rome so please
1 herself in the view of law and order established by her vic-
torious arms, as the Scots now rejoiced in communicating
■ , their barbarous zeal and theological fervor to the neighbor-
ing nations.
Charles, despoiled in England of a considerable part of
his authority, and dreading still further encroachments
1 Nalson, vol. i. p. 747. May, p. 104.
' Eushworth, vol. v. p. 365. Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 293.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 289
upon him, arrived in Scotland with an intention of abdica-
ting almost entirely the small share of power which there
remained to him, and of giving full satisfaction, if possible,
to his restless subjects in that kingdom.
The lords of articles were an ancient institution in the
Scottish Parliament. Tbey were constituted after this
manner : The temporal lords chose eight bishops ; the bish-
ops elected eight temporal lords ; these sixteen named eight
commissioners of counties and eight burgesses ; and with-
out the previous consent of the thirty-two who were de-
nominated lords of articles, no motion could be made in
Parliament. As the bishops were entirely devoted to the
, court, it is evident that all the lords of articles, by necessary
consequence, depended on the king's nomination ; and the
prince, besides one negative after the bills had passed through
Parliament, possessed indirectly another before their intro-
duction— a prerogative of much greater consequence than
the former. The bench of bishops being now abolished, the
Parliament laid hold of the opportunity, and totally sejr
aside the lords of articles ; and, till this important point
was obtained, the nation, properly speaking, could not be
said to enjoy any regular freedom.*
It is remarkable that, notwithstanding this institution,
to which there was no parallel in England, the royal au-
thority was always deemed much lower in Scotland than in
the former kingdom. Bacon represents it as one advantage
to be expected from the union, that the too extensive pre-
rogative of England would be abridged by the example of
Scotland, and the too narrow prerogative of Scotland be
enlarged from the imitation of England. The English were,
at that time, a civilized people, and obedient to the laws ;
but among the Scots it was of little consequence how the
laws were framed, or by whom voted, while the exorbitant
aristocracy had it so much in their power to prevent their
regular execution.
The Peers and Commons formed only one House in the
Scottish Parliament; and as it had been the practice of
James, continued by Charles, to grace English gentlemen
wath Scottish titles, all the determinations of Parliament, it
was to be feared, would in time depend upon the prince, by
means of these votes of foreigners, who had no interest or
property in the nation. It was therefore a law deserving
approbation that no man should be created a Scotch peer
8 Burnet, Memoir.
Vol. IV.— 19
290 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
who possessed not ten thousand marks (above five hundred
pounds) of annual rent in the kingdom.*
A law for triennial parliaments was likewise passed ; and
it was ordained that the last act of every Parliament sliould
be to appoint the time and place for holding the Parliament
next ensuing.'
The king was deprived of that power formerly exercised,
of issuing proclamations which enjoined obedience under
the penalty of treason — a prerogative which invested him
with the whole legislative authority, even in matters of the
highest importance.^
So far was laudable ; but the most fatal blow given to
royal authority, and what in a manner dethroned the prince,,
was the article that no member of the privy council in whose
hands, during the king's absence, the whole administration
lay, no officer of state, none of the judges, should be ap-
pointed but by advice and approbation of Parliament.
Charles even agreed to deprive of their seats four judges
who had adhered to his interests ; and their place was sup-
plied by others more agreeable to the ruling party. Several
of the Covenanters were also sworn of the privy council ;
and all the ministers of state, councillors, and judges were,
by law, to hold their places during life or good behavior.'
The king, while in Scotland, conformed himself entirely
to the Established Church, and assisted with great gravity
at the long prayers and longer sermons with which the Pres-
byterians endeavored to regale him. He bestowed pensions
and preferments on Henderson, Gillespy, and other popular
preachers, and practised every art to soften, if not to gain,
his greatest enemies. The Earl of Argyle was created a
marquis. Lord Loudon an earl, Lesley was dignified with
the title of Earl of Leven.' His friends he was obliged, for
the present, to neglect and overlook. Some of them were
disgusted ; and his enemies were not reconciled, but as-
cribed all his caresses and favors to artifice and necessity.
Argyle and Hamilton, being seized with an apprehen-
sion, real or pretended, that the Earl of Crawford and others
meant to assassinate them, left the Parliament suddenly and
retired into the country ; but, upon invitation and assur-
ances, returned in a few days. This event, which had
neither cause nor effect that was visible, nor purpose nor
consequence, was commonly denominated the incident.
• Burnet, Memoir. '^ Ibid. " Ibid. ' Ibid.
• Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 309.
HISTORY or ENGLAND. 291
But thougli the incident had no effect in Scotland, what
was not expected, it was attended with consequences in Eng-
land. The English Parliament, which was now assembled,
being willing to awaken the people's tenderness by exciting
their fears, immediately took the alarm ; as if the malig-
nants — so they called the king's party — had laid a plot at
once to murder them, and all the godly in both kingdoms.
They applied, therefore, to Essex, whom the king had left
general in the south of England, and he ordered a guard to
attend them.'
But while the king was employed in pacifying the com-
motions in Scotland, and was preparing to return to Eng-
land, in order to apply himself .to the same salutary work
in that kingdom, he received intelligence of a dangerous re-
bellion broken out in Ireland, with circumstances of the ut-
most horror, bloodshed, and devastation. On every side
this unfortunate prince was pursued with murmurs, discon-
tent, faction, and civil wars ; and the fire from all quarters,
even by the most independent accidentSj at once blazed u]3
about him.
The greatplan of James, in the administration of Ire,
land, continued by Charles, was, by justice and peace, to rec-'
oncile that turbulent people to the authority of laws, and,^
introducing"ai't and industry among them, to cure them of \
that sloth and barbarism to which they had ever been sub-
ject. In order to serve both these purposes, and at the same
time secure the dominion of Ireland to the English crown,
great colonies of British had been carried over, and, being
intermixed with the Irish, had everywhere introduced anew
face of things into that country. During a peace of near
forty years, the inveterate quarrels between the nations
seemed, in a great measure, to be obliterated ; and though
much of the landed property, forfeited by rebellion, had
been conferred on the new planters, a more than equal re-
turn had been made by their instructing the natives in till-
age, building, manufactures, and all the civilized arts of
life.-"" This had been the course of things during the suc-
cessive administrations of Chichester, Grandison, Falkland,
and, above all, of Strafford. Under the government of this
latter nobleman, the pacific plans now come to greater ma^
turity, and, forwarded by his vigor and industry, seemed to
= Whitloeke, p. 40. Dugdale. p. 72. Burnet's Memoirs of tlie House of Ham-
ilton, pp. 184, 185. Clarendon, p. 299.
» Sir John Temple's Irish Kebellion, p. 12.
292 HisTOEY or England.
Lave operated with full success, and to have bestowed at
last on that savage country the face of a European settle-
ment.
After Strafford fell a victim to popular rage, the humors
excited in Ireland by that great event could not be suddenly
composed, but continued to produce the greatest innova-
tions in the government.
The British Protestants, transplanted into Ireland, hav-
ing every moment before their eyes all the horrors of popery,
had naturally been carried into the opposite extreme, and
had universally adopted the highest principles and practices
of the Puritans. Monarchy, as well as the hierarchy, was
become odious to them ; and every method of limiting the
authority of the crown and detaching themselves from the
King of England was greedily adopted and pursued. They
considered not that, as they scarcely formed the sixth part
of the people and were secretly obnoxious to the ancient in-
habitants, their only method of supporting themselves was
by maintaining royal authority and preserving a great de-
pendence on their mother country. The English Commons,
likewise, in their furious prosecution of Strafford, had over-
looked the most obvious consequences ; and while they im-
puted to him as a crime every discretionary act of authority,
they despoiled all succeeding governors of that power by
which alone the Irish could be retained in subjection. And
so strong was the current for popular government in all the
three kingdoms that the most established maxims of policy
were everywhere abandoned in order to gratify this ruling
passion.
Charles, unable to resist, had been obliged to yield to
the Irish, as to the Scottish and English parliaments ; and
found, too, that their encroachments still rose in proportion
to his concessions. Those subsidies which themselves had
voted they reduced by a subsequent vote to a fourth part.
The court of high commission was determined to be a griev-
ance ; martial law abolished ; the jurisdiction of the council
annihilated ; proclamations and acts of state declared of no
authority ; every order or institution, which depended on
monarchy, was invaded; and the prince was despoiled of
all his prerogative, without the least pretext of any violence
or illegality in his administration.
The standing army of Ireland was usually about three
thousand men ; but in order to assist the king in suppress-
ing the Scottish Covenanters, Strafford had raised eight
HISTOET OB" ENGLAND. 293
thousand more, and had incorporated with them a thousand
men drawn from the old army — a necessary expedient for
bestowing order and discipline on the new-levied soldiers.
The private men in this army were all Catholics ; but the
officers, both commissioned and non-commissioned, were Prot-
estants, and could entirely be depended on by Charles. The
English Commons entertained the greatest apprehensions
on account of this army, and never ceased soliciting the
king till he agreed to break it ; nor would they consent to
any proposal for augmenting the standing army to five thou-
sand men, a number which the king deemed necessary for re-
taining Ireland in obedience.
Charles, thinking it dangerous that eight thousand men
accustomed to idleness and trained to the use of arms should
be dispersed among a nation so turbulent and imsettled,
agreed with the Spanish ambassador to have them transported
into Flanders, and enlisted in his master's service. The
English Commons, pretending apprehensions lest regular
bodies of troops, disciplined in the Low Countries, should
prove still more dangerous, showed some aversion to this
expedient, and the king reduced his allowance to four thou-
sand men. But when the Spaniards had hired ships for
transporting these troops and the men were ready to em-
bark, the Commons, willing to show their power, and not
displeased with an opportunity of curbing and affronting
the king, prohibited every one from furnishing vessels for
that service ; and thus the project formed by Charles of
freeing the country from these men was unfortunatly disaj)-
pointed."
The old Irish remarked all these false steps of the English
and resolved to take advantage of them. Though their ani-
mosity against that nation, for want of an occasion to exert
itself, seemed to be extinguished, it was only composed into
a temporary and deceitful tranquillity.*^ Their interests
both with regard to properly and religion secretly stimu-
lated them to a revolt. No individual of any sept, accord-
ing to the ancient customs, had the property of any particu-
lar estate ; but as the whole sept had a title to a whole ter-
ritory, they ignorantly preferred this barbarous community
before the more' secure and narrower possessions assigned
them by the English. An indulgence amounting almost to a
toleration had been given to the Catholic religion ; but so
" Clarendon, vol. 1. p. 281. Eushworth vol. T. p. 381. Dugdale, p. 75. May,
bk. ii. p. 3. 12 Temple, p. H.
294 HISTORY OF ENGLAKX).
long as the churches and the ecclesiastical revenues wero
kept from the priests, and they were obliged to endure the
neighborhood of profane heretics, being themselves discon-
tented, they continually endeavored to retard any cordial
reconciliation between the English and the Irish nations.
There was a gentleman called Roger More, who, though
of a narrow fortune, was descended from an ancient Irish
family, and was much celebrated among his countrymen for
valor and capacity. This man first formed the project of
expelling the English, and asserting the independence of
his native country." He secretly went from chieftain to
chieftain, and roused up every latent principle of discon-
tent. He maintained a close correspondence with Lord
Maguire and Sir Phelim O'Neale, the most powerful of the
old Irish. By conversation, by letters, by his emissaries, he
represented to his countrymen the motives of a revolt. He
observed to them that by the rebellion of the Scots and fac-
tions of the English the king's authority in Britain was re-
duced to so low a condition that he never could exert him-
self with any vigor in maintaining the English dominion
over Ireland ; that the C.itholics in the Irish Mouse of Com-
mons, assisted by the Protestants, had so diminished the
royal prerogative and the power of the lieutenant as would
much facilitate the conducting to its desired effect any con-
spiracy or combination which could be formed ; that the
Scots, having so successfully thrown off dependence on the
crown of England, and assumed the government into their
own hands, had set an example to the Irish, who had so
much greater oppressions to complain of ; that the English
planters who had expelled them their possessions, suppressed
their religion, and bereaved them of their liberties, were but
a handful in comparison of the natives ; that they lived in
the most supine security, interspersed with their numerous
enemies, trusting to the protection of a small army, which
was itself scattered in inconsiderable divisions throughout
the whole kingdom ; that a great body of men, disciplined
by the government, were now thrown loose, and were ready
for any daring or desperate enterprise; that though the
Catholics had hitherto enjoyed in some tolerable measure
the exercise of their religion from the moderation of their
indulgent prince, they must henceforth expect that the s^ov-
ernment will be conducted by other maxims and othei- prin-
ciples ; that the puritanical Parliament, having at length
13 Nalson, toI. ii. p. 543.
HISTOKY OP KNGLAND. 295
subdued their sovereign, would, no doubt, as soon as they
had consolidated their authority, extend their ambitious en-
terprises to Ireland, and make the Catholics in that king-
dom feel the same furious persecution to which their breth-
ren in England wei'e at present exposed ; and that a revolt
in the Irish, tending only to vindicate their native liberty
against the violence of foreign invaders, could never, at any
time, be deemed rebellion ; much leas during the present
confusions, when their prince was, in a manner, a prisoner,
and obedience must be paid not to him, but to those who
had traitorously usurped his lawful authority.^*
By these considerations. More engaged all the heads of
the native Irish into the conspiracy. The English of tlie
Pale, as they were called, or the old English planters, being
all Catholics, it was hoped, would afterwards join the party
which restored their religion to its ancient splendor and au-
thority. The intention was that Sir Phelim O'Neale and the
other conspirators should begin an insurrection on one day
throughout the provinces, and should attack all the English
settlements ; and that, on the same day. Lord Maguire and
Roger More should surprise the castle of Dublin. The
commencement of the revolt was fixed on the approach of
winter, that there might be more difficulty in transporting
forces from England. Succors to themselves and supplies of
arms they expected from France, in consequence of a prom-
ise made them by Cardinal Richelieu ; and many Irish offi-
cers, who served in the Spanish troops, had engaged to join
them as soon as they saw an insurrection entered upon by
their Catholic brethren. News, which every day arrived
from England, of the fury expressed by the Commons against
all Papists, struck fresh terror into the Irish nation, and
both stimulated the conspirators to execute their fatal pur-
pose and gave them assured hopes of the concurrence of all
their countrymen.^^
Such propensity to a revolt was discovered in all the
Irish that it was deemed unnecessary, as it was dangerous,
to intrust the secret to many hands ; and the appointed day
drew nigh, nor had any discovery been yet made to the gov-
ernment. The king, indeed, had received information from
his ambassadors that something was in agitation among the
Irish in foreign parts ; but, though he gave warning to the
administration in Ireland, the intelligence was entirely neg-
M Temple, pp. 72, 73, 78. Dugdale, p. 73. '■^ Dugdale, p. 74.
296 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
lected.^^ Secret rumors likewise were heard of some ap-
proaching conspiracy ; but no attention was paid to them.
The Earl of Leicester, whom tlie king had appointed lieu-
tenant, remained in London. The two justices. Sir William
Parsons and Sir John Borlace, were men of small abilities ;
and by an inconvenience common to all factious times,
owed their advancement to nothing but their zeal for the
party by whom everything was now governed. Tranquil
from their ignorance and inexperience, those men indulo;ed
themselves in the most profound repose, on the very brink
of destruction.
But they were awakened from their security on the very,
day before that which was appointed for the commencement
of hostilities. The castle of Dublin, by which the capital
was commanded, contained arms for ten thousand men, with
thirty-five pieces of cannon, and a proportionable quantity
of ammunition ; yet was this important place guarded, and
that too without any care, by no greater force than fifty
men. Maguire and More were already in town with a
numerous band of their partisans ; others were expected that
night ; and next morning they were to enter upon, what they
esteemed the easiest of all enterprises, the surprisal of the
castle. O'ConnoIly, an Irishman, but a Protestant, betrayed
the conspiracy to Parsons." The justices and council fled
immediately for safety into the castle, and reinforced the
guards. The alarm was conveyed to the city, and all the
Protestants prepared for defence. More escaped ; Maguire
was taken ; and Mahone, one of the conspirators, being like-
wise seized, first discovered to the justices the project of a
general insurrection, and redoubled the apprehensions which
already were universally diffused throughout Dublin.^'
But though O'Connolly's discovery saved the castle from
a surprise, the confession extoi-ted fi-om Mahone came too
late to prevent the intended insurrection. O'Neale and his
, confederates had already taken arms in Ulster. The Irish,
everywhere intermingled with the English, needed but a
hint from their leaders and priests to begin hostilities against
a people whom they hated on account of their religion, and
envied for their riches and prosperity." The houses, cattle,
goods, of the unwary English were first seized. Those who
heard of the commotions in their neighborhood, instead of
" Eushworth, vol. v. p. 408. Nalson, toI. ii. p. 565.
" Eushworth, vol. v. p. 399. Nalson, vol. ii. p. 520. May, bk. ii. n e
J8 Temple, pp. 17, 18, 19, 20. Eushworth, vol. v. p. 400.
w Temple, pp. 39, 40, 79.
HISTOET OV ENGLAND, 297
deserting their habitations and assembling for mutual pro-
tection, remained at home, in hopes of defending their prop-
erty, and fell thus separately into the hands of their ene-
mies.'^" After rapacity had fully exerted itself, cruelty, and
the most barbarous that ever in any nation was known or
heard of, began its operations. A universal massacre com-
menced of the English, now defenceless, and passively re-
signed to their inhuman foes. No age, no sex, no condition,
was spared. The wife weeping for her butchered husband,
and embracing her helpless children, was pierced with them,
and perished by the same stroke.^^ The old, the young, the
vigorous, the infirm, undervv'ent a like fate, and were con-
founded in one common ruin. In vain did flight save from
the first assault : destruction was everywhere let loose, and
met the hunted victims at every turn. In vain was recourse
had to relations, to companions, to friends : all connections
were dissolved, and death was dealt by that hand from which
protection was implored and expected. Without provoca-
tion, without opposition, the astonished English, living in
profound peace and full secuiity, were massacred by their
nearest neighbors, with whom they had long upheld a con-
tinual intercourse of kindness and good offiues.^^ ,
But death was the slightest punishment inflicted byl
those rebels ; all the tortures which wanton cruelty could
devise, all the lingering pains of body, the anguish of mind,
the agonies of despair, could not satiate revenge excited
without injury, and cruelty derived from no cause. To
enter into particulars would shock the least delicate human-
ity. Such enormities, though attested by undoubted evi-
dence, appear almost incredible. Depraved nature, even
perverted religion, encouraged by the utmost license, reach
not to such a pitch of ferocity, unless the pity inherent in
human breasts be destroyed by that contagion of example
which transports men beyond all the usual motives of con-
duct and behavior.
The weaker sex themselves, naturally tender to their
own sufferings and compassionate to those of others, here
emulated their more robust companions in the practice of
every cruelty.'^ Even children, taught by the example and
encouraged by the exhortation of their parents, essayed
their feeble blows on the dead carcasses or defenceless chil-
dren of the English.^* The very avarice of the Irish was
"> Temple, p. 42. " Temple, p. 40. '^ Temple, pp. 39 40.
2» Teinple, pp. 96, 101. Kusliwortli, vol. v. p. 415. " Temple, p. 100.
298 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
not a sufficient restraint to their cruelty. Such was their
frenzy that the cattle which they had seized, and by rapine
made their own, yet, because they bore the name of English,
were wantonly slaughtered, or, when covered with wounds,
turned loose into the woods and deserts.^
The stately buildings or commodious habitations of the
planters, as if upbraiding the sloth and ignorance of the na-
tives, were consumed with fire or laid level with the ground.
And where the miserable owners, shut up in their houses
and preparing for defence, perished in the flames, together
with their wives and children, a double triumph was afforded
to their insulting foes.'^'
If anywhere a number assembled together, and, assum-
ing courage from despair, were resolved to sweeten death
by revenge on their assassins, they were disarmed by capit-
ulations and promises of safety confirmed by the most sol-
emn oaths. But no sooner had they surrendered than the
rebels, with perfidy equal to their cruelty, made them share
the fate of their unhappy countrymen.^'
Others, more ingenious still in their barbarity, tempted
their prisoners, by the fond love of life, to imbrue their
hands in the blood of friends, brothers, parents ; and, having
thus rendered them accomplices in guilt, gave them that
death which they sought to shun by deserving it.^^
Amid all these enormities, the sacred name of religion
resounded on every side ; not to stop the hands of these
murderers, but to enforce their blows, and to steel their
hearts against every movement of human or social sympa-
thy. The English, as heretics, abhorred of God and detest-
able to all holy men, were marked out by the priests for
slaughter ; and, of all actions, to rid the world of these de-
clared enemies to Catholic faith and piety was represented
as the most meritorious.^ Nature, which in that rude peo-
ple was sufficiently inclined to atrocious deeds, was further
stimulated by precept ; and national prejudices empoisoned
by those aversions, more deadly and incurable, which arose
from an enraged superstition. While death finished the suf-
ferings of each victim, the bigoted assassins, with joy and
exultation, still echoed in his expiring ears that these ago-
nies were but the commencement of torments infinite a°id
eternal.'"
2= Temple, p. 84. '" Temple, pp. 29, 106. Euahworth, vol. v. p. 414.
2' Whitlocke, p. 47. Eusliworth, vol. v. p. 416.
2« Temple, p. 100. to Temple, pp. 85, 106.
30 Temple, pp. 94, 107, 108. Eusliworth, vol. v. p. 407.
HISTORY OF ENGLAH-D, 299
Such were the barbarities by which Sir Phelim O'Neale
and the Irish in Ulster signalized their rebellion — an event
memorable in the annals of human kind, and worthy to be
held in perpetual detestation and abhorrence. The generous
nature of More was shocked at the recital of such enormous
cruelties. He flew to O'Neale's camp ; but found that his
authority, which was sufficient to excite the Irish to an in-
surrection, was too feeble to restrain their inhumanity.
Soon after, he abandoned a cause polluted by so many
crimes ; and he retired into Flanders. Sir Phelim, recom-
mended by the greatness of his family, and perhaps, too, by
the unrestrained brutality of his nature, though without any
courage or capacity, acquired the entire ascendant over the
northern rebels.^^ The English colonies were totally anni-
hilated in the open country of Ulster. The Scots at first
met with more favorable treatment. In order to engage
them to a passive neutrality, the Irish pretended to distin-
guish between the British nations; and, claiming friendship
and consanguinity with the Scots, extended not over them
the fury of their massacres. Many of them found an op-
portunity to fly the country ; others retired into places of
security, and prepared themselves for defence ; and by this
means the Scottish planters, most of them at least, escaped
with their lives.'^
From Ulster the flames of rebellion diffused themselves
in an instant over the other three provinces of Ireland. In
all places death and slaughter were not uncommon ; though
the Irish in these other provinces pretended to act with
moderation and humanity. But cruel and barbarous was
their humanity ! Not content with expelling the English
their houses, with despoiling them of their goodly manors,
with wasting their cultivated fields, they stripped them of
their very clothes, and turned them out, naked and defence-
less, to all the severities of the season.^^ The heavens them.-
selves, as if conspiring against that happy people, were
armed with cold and tempest unusual to the climate, and
executed what the merciless sword had left unfinisbed.^''
The roads were covered with crowds of naked English, hast-
ening towards Dublin and the other cities which yet re-
mained in the hands of their countrymen. The feeble age
of children, the tender sex of women, soon sank tinder the
multiplied rigors of cold and hunger. Here the husband,
SI Temple, p. 44. 22 Temple, p. 41. Eushworth, vol. i. p. 416.
13 Temple, p. 42. « Xemple, p. 64.
300 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
bidding a final adieu to his expiring family, envied them
that fate which he himself expected so soon to share ; there
the son, having long supported his aged parent, with reluc-
tance obeyed his laht commands, and, abandoning him in
this uttermost distress, reserved himself to the hopes of
avenging that death which all his efforts could not prevent
or delay. The astonishing greatness of the calamity de-
prived the sufferers of any relief from the view of compan-
ions in affliction. With silent tears or lamentable cries, they
hurried on through the hostile territories ; and found every
heart which was not steeled by native barbarity guarded by
the more implacable furies of mistaken piety and religion.^*
The saving of Dublin preserved in Ireland the remains
of the English name. The gates of that city, though
timorously opened, received the wretched supplicants, and
presented to the view a scene of human misery beyond what
any eye had ever before beheld.^" Compassion seized the
amazed inhabitants, aggravated with the fear of like calam-
ities ; while they observed the numerous foes without and-
within, which everywhere environed them, and reflected on
the weak resources by which they ■were themselves sup-
ported. The more vigorous of the unhappy fugitives, to
the number of three thousand, were enlisted into three regi-
ments. The rest were distributed into the houses ; and all
care was taken, by diet and warmth, to recruit their feeble
and torpid limbs. Diseases of unknown name and species,
derived from these multiplied distresses, seized many of them
and put a speedy period to their lives. Others having now
leisure to reflect on their mighty loss of friends and fortune,
cursed that bemg which they had saved. Abandoning them-
selves to despair, refusing all succor, they expired, without
other consolation than that of receiving among their coun-
trymen the honors of a grave, which, to their slaughtered
companions, had been denied by the inhuman barbaVians.^'
By some computations, those who perished by all these
cruellies are supposed to bo a hundred and fifty or two hun-
dred thousand. By the most moderate, and probably the
most reasonable account, they are made to amount to forty
thousand — if this estimation itself be not, as is usual in such
cases, somewhat exaggerated.
The justices ordered to Dublin all the bodies of the
army which were not surrounded by the rebels ; and they
assembled a force of fifteen hundred veterans. They soon
35 Temple, p. 88. so Temple, p. 62. »' Temple, pp. 43, 62.
HISTORY 01" ENGLAND. 301
enlisted and armed from the magazines above four thousand
men more. They despatched a body of six hundred men to
throw relief into Tredah, besieged by the Irish. But these
troops, attacked by the enemy, were seized with a panic, and
were most of them put to the sword. Their arms falling in-
to the hands of the Irish, supplied them with what was
most wanted.'' The justices, willing to foment the rebellion
in a view of profiting by the multiplied forfeitures, hence-
forth thought of nothing more than providing for their own
present security and that of the capital. The Earl of
Ormond, their general, remonstrated against such timid, not
to say base and interested, counsels, but was obliged to sub-
mit to authority.
The English of the Pale, who probably were not at first
in the secret, pretended to blame the insurrection, and to
detest the barbarity with which it was accompanied.^' By
their protestations and declarations, they engaged the jus-
tices to supply them with arms, which they promised to
employ in defence of the government.^" But, in a little
time, the interests of religion were found more prevalent
over them than regard and duty to their mother country.
They chose Lord Gormanstone their leader ; and, joining
the old Irish, rivalled them in every act of violence towards
the English Protestants. Besides many smaller bodies dis-
persed over the kingdom, the principal array of the rebels
amounted to twenty thousand men, and threatened Dublin
with an immediate siege.^^
Both the English and Irish rebels conspired in one im-
posture, with which they seduced many of their deluded
countrymen. They pretended authority from the king and
queen, but chiefly from the latter, for their insurrection ; and
they afiirmed that the cause of their taking arms was to
vindicate royal prerogative, now invaded by the puritanical
Parliament.^^ Sir Phelira O'Neale, having found a royal
patent in Lord Caulfield's house, whom he had murdered,
tore off the seal and afiixed it to a commission which he had
forged for himself.^'
The king received an account of this insurrection by a
messenger despatched from the north of Ireland. He
immediately communicated his intelligence to the- Scottish
Parliament. He expected that -the mighty zeal expressed
»s Nalsou, vol. ii. p. 905. " Temple, p. 33. Eushworth, vol. v. p. 402.
" Temple, p. 60. Borlace, Hist. p. 28. "■ Whitlocke, p. 49.
« Kuehwortli, vol. v. pp. 400, 401. « Eushworth, vol. v. p. 402.
302 HISTOET OF ENGLA.ND.
by the Scots for the Protestant religion would immediately
engage tliera to fly to its defence, where it was so violently
invaded; he hoped that their horror against popery, a
religion which now appeared in its most horrible aspect,
would second all his exhortations ; he had observed with what
alacrity they had twice run to arms and assembled troops
in opposition to the rights of their sovereign ; he saw with
Iiow much greater facility they could now collect forces
which had been very lately disbanded, and which had been
so long inured to military discipline. The cries of their
affrighted and distressed brethren in Ireland, he promised
himself, would powerfully incite them to send over succors,
which could arrive so quickly, and aid them with such
promptitude in this uttermost distress. But the zeal of the
Scots, as is usual among religious sects, was very feeble
when not stimulated either by faction or by interest. They
now considered themselves entirely as a republic, and made
no account of the authority of their prince, which they had
utterly annihilated. Conceiving hojjes from the present
distresses of Ireland, they resolved to make an advan-
tageous bargain for the succors with which they should
supply their neighboring nation ; and they cast their eye
towards the English Parliament, with whom they were
already so closely connected, and who could alone fulfil any
articles which might be agreed on. Except despatching a
small body to support the Scottish colonies in Ulster, they
would, therefore, go no further at present than sending cdm-
missioners to London, in order to treat with that power to
whom the sovereign authority was now in reality trang-
ferred.^^
The king, too, sensible of his utter inability to subdue
the Irish rebels, found himself, obliged in this exigency to
have recourse to the English Parliament, and depend on
their assistance for supply. After communicating to them
the intelligence which he had received,, he informed them
that the insurrection was not, in his opinion, the result of
any rash enterprise, but of a formed conspiracy against the
crown of England. To their care and wisdom, therefore, he
said, he_ committed the conduct and prosecution of the war,
which, in a cause so important to national and relio-ious in-
terests, must of necessity be immediately entered upon and
vigorously pursued.'"'
The English Parliament was now assembled ; and dis-
" Eushworth, vol. v. p. 407. « Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 301.
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 303
covered in avery vote the same dispositions in which they
had separated. The exalting pf their own authority, tlie
diminishing of the king's, were still the objects pursued by
the majority. Every attempt which had been made to gain
the popular leaders, and by offices to attach them to the
crown, had failed of success, either for want of skill in con-
ducting it or by reason of the slender preferments which it
was then in the king's power to confer. The ambitious and
enterprising patriots disdained to accept in detail of a pre-
carious power, while they deemed it so easy, by one bold
and vigorous assault, to possess themselves forever of the en-
tire sovereignty. Sensible that the measures which they
had hitherto pursued rendered them extremely obnoxious to
the king — were many of them in themselves exceptionable ;
some of them, strictly speaking, illegal — they resolved to
seek their own security as well as greatness by enlarging
popular authority in England. The great necessities to
which the king was reduced ; the violent prejudices which
generally throughout the nation prevailed against him ; his
facility in making the most important concessions; the
example of the Scots, whose encroachments had totally
subverted monarchy — all these circumstances further insti-
gated the Commons in their invasion of royal prerogative ;
and the danger to which the constitution seemed to have
been so lately exposed persuaded many that it never -eould
be sufficiently secured but by the entire abolition of that
authority which had invaded it.
But this project it had not been in the power, scarcely in
the intention, of the popular leaders to execute, had it not
been for the passion which seized the nation for Presby-
terian discipline, and for the wild enthusiasm which at that
time accompanied it. The license which the Parliament had
bestowed on this spirit by checking ecclesiastical authority,
the countenance and encouragement with which they had
honored it, had already diffused its influence to a wonderful
degree, and all orders of men had drunk deep of the intoxi-
cating poison. In every discourse or conversation, this
mode of religion entered ; in all business it had a share ;
every elegant pleasure or amusement it utterly annihilated ;
many vices or corruptions of mind it promoted ; even
diseases and bodily distempers were not totally exempted
from it ; and it became requisite, we are told, for all
physicians to be expert in the spiritual profession, and, by
theological considerations, to allay those religious terrors with
304 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
which their patients were so generally haunted. Learning
itself, which tends so much to enlarge the mind and humanize
the temper, rather served on this occasion to exalt that
epidemical frenzy which prevailed. Rude as yet, and im-
perfect, it supplied the dismal fanaticism with a variety of
views, founded it on some coherency of system, enriched it
with different fiigures of elocution — advantage, with which
a people totally ignorant and barbarous had been happily
unacquainted.
From policy at first, and inclination, now from neces-
sity, the king attached himself extremely to the hierarchy ;
for like reasons, his enemies were determined, by one and
the same effort, to overpower the Church and monarchy.
While the Commons were in this disposition, the Irish
rebellion was the event which tended most to promote the
views in which all their measures terminated. A horror
against the Papists, however innocent, they had constantly
encouraged ; a terror from the conspiracies of that sect,
however improbable, they had at all times endeavored to ex-
cite. Here was broken out a rebellion, dreadful and unex-
pected ; accompanied with circumstances the most detesta-
ble of which there ever was any record ; and what was the
peculiar guilt of the Irish Catholics, it was no difficult mat-
ter, in the present disposition of men's minds, to attribute to
that whole sect, who were already so much the object of
general abhorrence. Accustomed, in all invectives, to join
the prelatical party with the i'apists, the people immedi-
ately supposed this insurrection to be the result of their
united counsels ; and when they heard that the Irish rebels
pleaded the king's commission for all their acts of violence,
bigotry, ever credulous and malignant, assented without
scruple to that gross imposture, and unloaded the unhappy
prince with the whole enormity of a contrivance so barbar-
ous and inhuman.^'
By the difficulties and distresses of the crown, the Com-
mons, who possessed alone the power of supply, had aggran-
dized themselves ; and it seemed a peculiar happiness that
the Irish rebellion had succeeded, at so critical a juncture,
to the pacification of Scotland. That expression of the
king's by which he committed to them the care of Ireland,
they immediately laid hold of and interpreted in the most
unlimited sense. They had on other occasions been gradu-
ally encroaching on the executive power of the crown,
" See note [T] at the end of the volume.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 305
■which forms its principal and most natural branch of au-
thority ; but with regard to Ireland, they at once assumed
it, fully and entirely, as if delivered over to them by a reg-
ular gift or assignment ; and to this usurpation the king was
obliged passively to submit, both because of his inability to
resist, and lest he should still more expose himself to the
reproach of favoring the progress of that odious rebellion.
The project of introducing further innovations in Eng-
land being once formed by the leaders among the Com-
mons, it became a necessary consequence that their opera-
tions with regard to Ireland should, all of them, be con-
sidered as subordinate to the former, on whose success,
when once undertaken, their own grandeur, security, and
even being must entirely depend. While they pretended
the utmost zeal against the Irish insurrection, they took no
steps towards its suppression but such as likewise tended
to give them the superiority in those commotions which
they foresaw must so soon be excited in England.^' The
extreme contempt entertained for the natives in Ireland
made the popular leaders believe that it would be easy at
any time to suppress their rebellion and recover that king-
dom ; nor were they willing to lose, by too hasty success,
the advantage which that rebellion would afford them in
their projected enroachments on the prerogative. By as-
suming the total management of the war, they acquired
the courtship and dependence of every one who had any
connection with Ireland, or who was desirous of enlisting
in these military enterprises. They levied money under
pretence of the Irish expedition, but reserved it for pur-
poses which concerned them more nearly ; they took arms
from the king's magazines, but still kept them with a secret
intention of employing them against himself ; whatever law
they deemed necessary for aggrandizing themselves was voted
under color of enabling them to recover Ireland ; and if
Charles withheld the royal assent, his refusal was imputed to
those pernicious counsels which had at first excited the
popish rebellion, and which still threatened total destruc-
tion to the Protestant interest throughout all his domin-
ions ; ^ and though no forces were for a long time sent over
to Ireland, and very little money remitted during the ex-
treme distress of that kingdom, so strong was the people's
attachment to the Commons that the fault was never im-
*' Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 435. Sir Edward Walker, p. 6.
*» Nalson, vol. ii. p. 618. Clarendon, vol. iv. p. B90.
Vol. IV.— 20
806 HISTORY 01" ENGLAND;
puted to those pious zealots, whose votes breathed nothing
but death and destruction to the Irish rebels.
To make the attack on royal authority by regular ap-
proaches, it was thought proper to frame a general remon-
strance of the state of the nation ; and, accordingly, the
committee, which at the first meeting of Parliament had
been chosen for that purpose, and which had hitherto made
no progress in their work, received fresh injunctions to
finish' that undertaking.
The committee brought into the House that remon-
strance which has become so memorable, and which was
soon afterwards attended with such important consequences.
It was not addressed to the king, but was openly declared
to be an appeal to the people. The harshness of the matter
was equalled by the severity of the language. It consists
of many gross falsehoods, intermingled with some evident
truths ; malignant insinuations are joined to open invec-
tives, loud complaints of the past accompanied with jealous
prognostications of the future. Whatever unfortunate,
whatever invidious, whatever suspicious measure had been
embraced by the king, from the commencement of his reign,
is insisted on and aggravated with merciless rhetoric. The
unsuccessful expeditions to Cadiz and the isle of Rhe are
mentioned ; the sending of ships to France for the suppres-
sion of the Huguenots ; the forced loans : the illegal confine-
ment of men for not obeying illegal commands ; the violent
dissolution of four parliaments ; the arbitrary government
which always succeeded ; the questioning, fining, and im-
prisoning of members for their conduct in the House ; the
levying of taxes without consent of the Commons ; the in-
troducing of superstitious innovations into the Church
I without authority of law ; in short, everything which, either
!]Avith or without reason, had given offence, during the course
i'of fifteen years, from the accession of the king to the call-
\iing of the present Parliament. And though all these griev-
ances had been already redressed, and even laws enacted
for future security against their return, the praise of these
advantages was ascribed, not to the king, but to the Parlia-
ment who had extorted his consent to such salutary statutes.
Their own merits, too, they asserted, towards the kino'
were no less eminent than towards the people. Thou"-h
they had seized his whole revenue, rendered it totally pre-
carious, and made even their temporary supplies be paid to
their own commissioners, who were independent of him
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 307
they pretended that they had liberally supported him in his
necessities. By an insult still more egregious, the very giv-
ing of money to the Scots for levying war against their
sovereign they represented as an instance of their duty
towards him. And all their grievances, they said, which
amounted to no less than a total subversion of the consti-
tution, proceeded entirely from the formed combination
of a popish faction, who had ever swayed the king's coun-
sels, who had endeavored, by an uninterrupted effort, to in-
troduce their superstition into England and Scotland, and
who had now, at last, excited an open and bloody rebellion
in Ireland.*'
This remonstrance, so full of acrimony and violence, was
a plain signal for some further attacks intended on royal
prerogative, and a declaration that the concessions already
made, however important, were not to be regarded as satis-
factory. What pretensions would be advanced, how un-
precedented, how unlimited, were easily imagined ; and
nothing less was foreseen, whatever ancient names might be
preserved, than an abolition, almost total, of the monarchical
government of England. The opposition, therefore, which
the remonstrance met with in the House of Commons was
great. For above fourteen hours the debate was warmly
managed ; and from the weariness of the king's party, which
probably consisted chiefly of the elderly people and men of
cool spirits, the vote was at last carried by a small majority
of eleven.^" Some time after the remonstrance was ordered
to be printed and published, without being carried up to
the House of Peers for their assent and concurrence.
When this remonstrance was dispersed, it excited every-
where the same violent controversy which attended it when
introduced into the House of Commons. This Parliament,
said the partisans of that assembly, have at length profited ■
by the fatal example of their predecessors, and are resolved
that the fabric which they have generously undertaken to
rear for the protection of liberty shall not be left to future
ages, insecure and imperfect. At the time when the Petition
of Right, that requisite vindication of a violated constitution,
was extorted from the unwilling prince, who but imagined
that liberty was at last secured, and that the laws would
thenceforth m.aintain themselves in opposition to arbitrary
authority ? But what was the event ? A right was indeed
" Rushworth, toI. v. p. 438. Nalson, vol. i. p. 694.
CO Wliitlocke, p. 49. Dugdale, p. 71. Nalsou, vol. 11. p. G68.
308 HISTOKT OF ENGLAND.
acquired to the people, or rather, their ancient right was
more exactly defined ; but as the power of invading it still
remained in the prince, no sooner did an opportunity offer
than he totally disregarded all laws and preceding engage-
ments, and made his will and pleasure the sole rule of
government. Those lofty ideas of monarchical authority,
which he has derived from his' early education, which are
united in his mind with the irresistible illusions of self-love,
which are corroborated by his mistaken principles of relig-
ion, it is in vain to hope that, in his more advanced age, he
will sincerely renounce, from any subsequent reflection or
experience. Such conversions, if ever they happen, are
extremely rare ; but to expect that they will be derived
from necessity, from the jealousy and resentment of antago-
nists, from blame, from reproach, from opposition, must be
the result of the fondest and most blind credulity. These
violences, however necessary, are sure to irritate a prince
against limitations so cruelly imposed upon him ; and each
concession which he is constrained to make is regarded as a
temporary tribute paid to faction and sedition, and is
secretly attended with a resolution of seizing every favorable
opportunity to retract it. Nor should we imagine that
opportunities of that kind will not offer in the course of
human affairs. Governments, especially those of a mixed
kind, are in continual fluctuation ; the humors of the people
change perpetually from one extreme to another ; and no
resolution can be more wise, as well as more just, than that
of employing the present advantages against the king, who
had formerly pushed much less tempting ones to the utmost
extremities against his people and his Parliament. It is to
be feared that, if the religious rage which has seized the
multitude be allowed to evaporate, they will quickly return
to the ancient ecclesiastical establishment, and with it em-
brace those principles of slavery which it inculcates with
such zeal on its submissive proselytes. Those patriots who
are now the public idols may then become the objects of
general detestation, and equal shouts of joy attend their
ignominious execution with those which second their present
advantages and triumphs. Nor ought the apprehension of
such an event to be regarded in them as a seliish considera-
tion : in their safety is involved the security of the laws ;
the patrons of the constitution cannot suffer without a fatal
blow to the constitution ; and it is but justice in the public
to protect, at any hazard, those who have so generously
HISTOEY 01" ENGLAND. 309
exposed themselves to the utmost hazard for the public
interest. What though monarchy, the ancient government
of England, be impaired, during these contests, in many of /
its former prerogatives ; the laws will flourish the more by j
its decay ; and it is happy, allowing that matters are really /
carried beyond the bounds of moderation, that the current (
at least runs towards liberty, and that the error is on that i f)
side which is safest for the general interest of mankind and ']
society.
The best arguments of the royalists against a further
attack on the prerogative were founded more on opposite
ideas which they had formed of the past events of this
reign than on opposite principles of government. Some
invasions, they said, and those, too, of moment, had un-
doubtedly been made on national privileges ; but were we to
look for the cause of these violences, we should never find
it to consist in the wanton tyranny and injustice of the '
prince, not even in his ambition or immoderate appetite for
authority. The hostilities with Spain, in which the king,
on his accession, found himself engaged, however imprudent
and unnecessary, had proceeded from the advice, and even
importunity, of the Parliament, who deserted him imme-
diately after they had embarked him in those warlike meas-
ures. A young prince, jealous of honor, was naturally
afraid of being foiled in his first enterprise, and had not as
yet attained such maturity of counsel as to perceive that his
greatest honor lay in preserving the laws inviolate, and
gaining the full confidence of his people. The rigor of the
subsequent parliaments had been extreme with regard to
many articles, particularly tonnage and poundage, and had
reduced the king to an absolute necessity, if he would pre-
serve entire the royal prerogative, of levying those duties by
his own authority, and of breaking through the forms, in
order to maintain, the spirit, of the constitution. Having
once made so perilous a step, he was naturally induced to
continue, and to consult the public interest by imposing
ship-money and other moderate though irregular burdens
and taxations. A sure proof that he had formed no system /
for enslaving his people is, that the chief object of his- /
government has been to raise a naval, not a military force —
a project useful, honorable, nay, indispensably requisite, and,
in spite of his great necessities, brought almost to a happy
Conclusion. It is now full time to free him from all these
necessities, and to apply cordials and lenitives after those
310 HISTOKT OF ENGLAND.
severities, -which have already had their full course against
him. Never was sovereiarn blessed with mure moderation
of temper, with more justice, more humanity, more honor,
or a more gentle disposition. What pity that such a prince
should so long have been harassed with rigors, suspicions,
calumnies, complaints, encroachments, and been forced from
that path in which the rectitude of his principles would have
inclined him to have constantly trodden ! If some few
instnnces are found of violations made on the Petition of
Right, which he himself had granted, there is an e.-isier and
more natural way for preventing the return of like incon-
veniences than by a total abolition of royal authority. Let
the revenue be settled suitably to the ancient dignity and
splendor of the crown ; let the public necessities be fully
supplied ; let the remaining articles of prerogative be left
untouched ; and the king, as he has already lost the power,
will lay aside the will, of invading the constitution. From
what quarter can jealousies now rise ? What further secu-
rity can be desired or expected ? The king's preceding con-
cessions, so far from being insufficient for public security,
have rather erred on the other extreme ; and, by depriving
him of all power of self-defence, are the real cause why the
Commons are emboldened to raise pretensions hitherto un-
heard of in the kingdom, and to subvert the whole system
of the constitution. But would they be content with mod-
erate advantages, is it not evident that, besides other im-
portant concessions, the present Parliament may be continued
till the government be accustomed to the new track, and
every part be restored to full harmony and concord ? By
the triennial act a perpetual succession of parliaments is
established, as everlasting guardians to the laws, while the
king possesses no independent power or military force by
which he can be supported in his invasion of them. No
danger remains but what is inseparable from all free con-
stitutions, and what forms the very essence of their freedom
— the danger of a change in the people's disposition, and of
general disgust contracted against popular privileges. To
prevent such an evil, no expedient is more proper than to
contain ourselves within the bounds of moderation, and to
consider that all extremes, naturally and infallibly, beget
each other. In the same manner as the past usurpations of
the crown, however excusable on account of the necessity
or provocations whence they arose, have excited an immeas-
urable appetite for liberty, let us beware lest our encroach-
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 311
merits, by introducing anarchy, make the people seek shelter
under the peaceable and despotic rule of a monarch. Au-
thority, as well as liberty, is requisite to government, and is
even requisite to the support of liberty itself, by maintain-
ing the laws, which can alone regulate and protect it. What
madness, while everything is so happily settled under ancient
forms and institutions, now more exactly poised and adjusted
to try the hazardous experiment of a new constitution, and
renounce the mature wisdom of our ancestors for the crude
whimsies of turbulent innovators ! Besides the certain and
inconceivable mischiefs of civil war, are not the perils
apparent which the delicate frame of liberty must inevitably
sustain amid the furious shock of arms? Whichever side \
prevails, she can scarcely hope to remain inviolate, and may |
suffer no less, or rather greater injuries from the boundless '
pretensions of forces engaged in her cause than from the
invasion of enraged troops enlisted on the side of monarchy. ,
The king, upon his return from Scotland, was received
in London with the shouts and acclamations of the people,
and with every demonstration of regard and affection.^^
Sir Richard Gourney, lord mayor, a man of moderation and
authority, had promoted these favorable dispositions, and
bad engaged the populace, who so lately insulted tlie king
and who so soon after made furious war upon him, to give
him these marks of their dutiful attachment. But all the
pleasure which Charles reaj)ed from this joyous reception ^^
was soon damped by the remonstrance of the Commons '
which was presented him, together with a petition of a like
strain. The bad counsels which he followed are there com-| .
plained of ; his concurrence in the Irish rebellion plainly!
insinuated ; the scheme laid for the introduction of popery'
and superstition inveighed against ; and, as a remedy for
all these evils, he4§dssiredJ;^in^i^t^£vecx|-o^ceM
mand tojer^aiVTa^^55s3^^G'arliamen.t sbSilC53^^^S^''^5fi-
t^'cofinde!^ By this phrase, which is so often repeated in
all the memorials and addresses of that time, the Commons
meant themselves and their adherents.
' As soon as the remonstrance of the Commons was pub-
lished, the king dispersed an answer to it. In this contest
he lay under great disadvantages. Not only the ears of the
people were^_gxt]:emgly_gmj^J;Ced,_against iiro ; the best
topics upon which hecouMjustrfy, at least apologize for,
"1 Eushworth, vol. t. p. 429.
52 Kushworth, vol. v. p. 437. Nalsou, vol. ii. p. 692.
312 HISTORY 01" EM-GLAND.
his former conduct -were such as it was not safe or prudent
for hina at this time to employ. So high was the national
idolatry towards parliaments that to blame the past conduct
of these assemblies would have been very ill received by the
generality of the people. So loud were the complaints
against regal usurpations that had the king asserted the
prerogative of supplying, by his own authority, the deficien-
cies in government arising from the obstinacy of the Com-
mons, he would have increased the clamors with which the
whole nation already resounded. Charles, therefore, con-
i tented himself with observing in general that, even during
that period so much complained of, the people enjoyed a
great measm-e of happiness, not only comparatively in re-
spect of their neighbors, but even in respect of those times
which were justly accounted the most fortunate. He made
warm protestations of sincerity in the reformed religion ;
he promised indulgence to tender consciences with regard
to the ceremonies of the Clmrch ; he mentioned his great
concessions to national liberty ; he blamed the infamous
libels everywhere dispersed against his person and the
national religion ; he complained of the general reproaches
thrown out in the remonstrance with regard to ill counsels,
though he had protected no minister from parliamentary
justice, retained no unpopular servant, and conferred offices
on no one who enjoyed not a high character and estimntion
in the public. " If, notwithstanding this," he adds, " any
malignant party shall take heart, and be willing to sacrifice
the peace and happiness of their country to their own
sinister ends and ambition, under whatever pretence of
religion and conscience ; if they shall endeavor to lessen my
reputation and interest, and to weaken my lawful power
and authority ; if they shall attempt, by discountenancing
the present laws, to loosen the bands of government, that
all disorder and confusion may break in upon us, I doubt
,not but God, in his good time, will discover them to me,
arid that the wisdom and courage of my high court of Par-
liament will join with me in their suppression and punish-
taent." ^' Nothing shows more evidently the hard situation
in which Charles was placed than to observe that he was
obliged to confine himself within the limits of civility to-
wards subjects who hadxtransgressed all bounds of regard,
and even of good manners, in the treatment of their sov-
ereign.
"' Nalson, vol. ii. p. 748.
a
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 313
The first instance of those parliamentary encroachments
which Charles was now to look for was the bill for pressing
soldiers to the service of Ii-eland. This bill quickly passed
the lower House. In the preamble the king's power of''
pressing, a power exercised during all former times, was de-
clared illegal and contrary to the liberty of the subject. By~
a necessary consequence, the prerogative which the crown
had ever assumed of obliging men to accept of any branch
of public service was abolished and annihilated — a prerog-
ative, it must be owned, not very compatible with a limited
monarchy. In order to elude this law, the king offered to
raise ten thousand volunteers for the Irish service ; but the
Commons were afraid lest such an army should be too much
at his devotion. Charles, still unwilling to submit to so con-
siderable a diminution of power, came to the House of
Peers, and offered to pass the law without the preamble ;
by which means, he said, that ill-timed question with regard
to the prerogative would for the present be avoided, and
the pretensions of each party be left entire. Both Houses
took fire at this measure, which, from a similar instance
while the bill of attainder against Strafford was in depen-
dence, Charles might foresee would be received with resent-
ment. The Lords, as well as Commons, passed a vote ,
declaring it to be a high breach of privilege for the king to i
take notice of any bill which was in agitation in either ofH
the Houses, or to express his sentiments with regard to it
before it be presented to him for his assent in a parliamen-
tary manner. The king was obliged to compose all matters
by an apology."
The general question, we may observe, with regard to
privileges of Parliament has always been, and still con-
tinues, one of the greatest mysteries in the English con-
stitution, and, in some respects, notwithstanding the ac-
curate genius of that government, these privileges are at
present as undetermined as were formerly the prerogatives
of the crown. Such privileges as are founded on long pre-
cedent cannot be controverted; but though it were certain
that former kings had not, in any instance, taken notice of
bills lying before the Houses (which yet appears to have
been very common), it follows not, merely from their never
exerting such a power, that they had renounced it, or never
were possessed of it. Such privileges, also, as are essential
K Knshworth, vol. v. pp. 457, 458, etc. Clarendon, vol. ii.'p. 327. Nalsou, vol.
11. pp. 738, 750, 751, etc.
314 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
to all free assemblies which deliberate, they may be allowecl
to assume, whatever precedents may prevail ; but though
the king's interposition, by an offer of advice, does in some
degree overawe or restrain liberty, it may be doubted
whether it imposes such evident violence as to entitle the
Parliament, without any other authority or concession, to
claim the privilege of excluding it. But this was the fav-
orable time for extending privileges ; and had none more
exorbitant or unreasonable been challenged, few bad conse-
quences had followed. The establishment of this rule, it is
certain, contributes to the order and regularity as well as
freedom of parliamentary proceedings.
Tlie interposition of peers in the election of commoners
was likewise about this time declared a breach of privilege,
and continues ever since to be condemned by votes of the
Commons and universally practised throughout the nation.
Every measure pursued by the Commons, and, still
more, every attempt made by their partisans, were full of
the most inveterate hatredjigainst the hierarchy, and showed
■; a determinedTCsolution of subverting the whole ecclesias-
j tical establishment. Besides numberless vexations and
j persecutions which the clergy underwent from the arbi-
trary power of the lower House, the Peers, while the king
was in Scotland, having passed an order for the observance
of the laws with regard to public worship, the Commons
, assumed such authority that by a vote alone of their House
they suspended those laws, though enacted by the whole
, legislature, and they particularly forbade bowing at the
name of Jesus— a practice which gave them the highest
scandal and which was one of their capital objections
against the established religion.^^ They complained of the
king's filling five vacant sees, and considered it as an insult
upon them that he should complete and strengthen an order
which they intended soon entirely to abolish.''^ They had
accused thirteen bishops of high treason for enacting canons
without consent of Parliament," though, from the founda-
tion of the monarchy, no other method had ever been
practised ; and they now insisted thai the Peers, upon this
general accusation, should sequester those bishops from
their seats in Parliament and commit them to prison.
Their bill for taking away the bishops' votes haa last winter
been rejected by the Peers ; but they again introduced the
ra Rushworth, Tol. v. pp. 385, 386. Nalsou, vol ii. p. 482.
»« Nalsoii, Tol. ii. p. 511. m Rushworth, vol. v. p. 35s.
HISTORY 05- ENGLAND. 315
same bill, though no prorogation had intervened, and they
endenvoved, by some minute alterations, to elude that rule
of Parliament which opposed them; and when they sent
up this bill to the Lords they made a demand, the most
absurd in the world, that the bishops, being all of them
parties, should be refused a vote with regard to that ques-
tion.^' After the resolution was once formed by the Com-
mons of invading the established government of Church
and State, it could not be expected that their proceedings
in such a violent attempt would thenceforth be altogether »
regular and equitable ; but it must be confessed that, m
their attack on the hierarchy, they still more openly passed
all bounds of moderation, as supposing, no doubt, that the
sacredness of the cause would sufficiently atone for employ-
ing means the most irregular and unprecedented. This
principle, which prevails so much among zealots, never dis-
played itself so openly as during the transactions of this
whole period.
But notwithstanding these efforts of the Commons, they
could not expect the concurrence of the upper House
either to this law or to any other which they should intro-
duce for the further limitation of royal authority. The
majority of the Peers adhered to the king, and plainly
foresaw the depression of nobility as a necessary con-
sequence of popular usurpations on the crown. The in-
solence, indeed, of the Commons, and their haughty treat-
ment of the Lords, had already risen to a great height, and
gave sufficient warning of their future attempts upon that
order. They muttered somewhat of their regret that they
should be obliged to save the kingdom alone, and that the
House of Peers would have no part in the honor. Nay,
they went so far as openly to tell the Lords "that they
themselves were the representative body of the whole king-
dom, and that the Peers were nothing but individuals who
held their seats in a particular capacity; and, therefore, if
their lordships will not consent to the passing of acts neces-
sary for the preservation of the people, the Commons, to-
gether with such of the Lords as are more sensible of ihe
danger, must join together and represent the matter to his
majesty." '" So violent was the democratic, enthusiastic
spirit diffused throughout the nation that a total oonfusion
of all rank and order was justly to be apprehended ; md
the wonder was, not that the majority of the nobles should
ts Ciarenuon, vol. ii. p. 304. »» Clarendon, vol. li. p. 415.
316 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
seek shelter under the throne, but that any of them should
venture to desert it. But the tide of popularity seized
many, and carried them wide of the most established max-
ims of civil policy. Among the opponents of the kmg are
ranked the Earl of Northumberland, lord admiral, a man
of the first family and fortune, and endowed with that
dignified pride which so well became his rank and station ;
the Earl of Essex, who inherited all his father's popularity,
and having, from his early youth, sought renown in arms,
united to a middling capacity that rigid inflexibility of
honor which forms the proper ornament of a nobleman and
a soldier ; Lord Kimbolton, soon after Earl of Manchester,
a person distinguished by humanity, generosity, affability,
and every amiable virtue. These men, finding that their
credit ran high with the nation, ventured to encourage those
popular disorders which they vainly imagined they pos-
sessed authority sufficient to regulate and control.
In order to obtain a majority in the upper House, the
Commons had recourse to the populace, who on other occa-
sions had done them such important service. Amid the
greatest security, they affected continual fears of destruc-
tion to themselves and the nation, and seemed to quake at
every breath or rumor of danger. They again excited the
people by never-ceasing inquiries after conspiracies, by
reports of insurrections, by feigned intelligence of in-
vasions from abroad, by discoveries of dangerous combina-
tions at home among Papists and their adherents. When
Charles dismissed the guard which they had ordered during
his absence, they complained ; and upon his promising them
a new guard under the command of the Earl of Lindesey,
they absolutely refused the offer, and were pleased to in-
sinuate by this instance of jealousy that their danger chiefly
arose from the king himself.™ They ordered halberts to be
brought into the hall where they assembled, and thus
armed themselves against those conspiracies with which
they pretended they were hourly threatened. All stories
of plots, however ridiculous, were willingly attended to
and were dispersed among the multitude, to whose capacity
they were well adapted. Beale, a tailor, informed the
Commons that, walking in the fields, he had hearkened to
the discourse of certain persons unknown to him, and had
heard them talk of a most dangerous conspiracy. A hun-
dred and eight ruffians, as he learned, had been appointed
0" Journal, November 30, 1611. Nalson, vol. li. p. 688.
HISTOKT 01" ENGLAND. 317
to murder a hundred and eight lords and commoners, and
were promised rewards for these assassinations — ten pounds
for each lord, forty shillings for each commoner. Upon
this notable intelligence orders were issued for seizing
priests and Jesuits, a conference was desired with the
Lords, and the deputy-lieutenants of some suspected
counties were ordered to put the people in a posture of
defence.^^
The pulpits likewise were called in aid, and resounded
with the dangers which threatened religion from the des-
perate attempts of Papists and malignants. Multitudes
flocked towards Westm^inster and insulted the prelates and
such of the lords as adhered to the crown. The Peers
voted a declaration against those tumults and sent it to the
lower House ; but these refused their concurrence.^^ Some
seditious apprentices being seized and committed to prison,
immediately reqeived their liberty by an order of the Com-
mons.°' The sheriffs and justices having appointed con-
stables with strong watches to guard the Parliament, the
Commons sent for the constables and required them to
discharge the watches, convened the justices, voted their
orders a breach of privilege, and sent one of them to the
Tower." Encouraged by these intimations of their pleas-
ure, the populace crowded about Whitehall and threw out
insolent menaces against Charles himself. Several reduced
officers and young gentlemen of the inns of court, during
this time of disorder and danger, offered their service to
the king. Between them and the populace there passed
frequent skirmishes which ended not without bloodshed.
By way of reproach, these gentlemen gave the rabble the
appellation of Roundheads, on account of the short-cropped
hair which they wore ; these called the others Cavaliers ;
and thus the nation, which was before sufficiently provided
with religious as well as civil causes of quarrel, was also
supplied with party names under which the factions might
rendezvous and signalize their mutual hatred."^
Meanwhile the tumults still continued, and even in-
creased about Westminster and Whitehall. The cry in-
cessantly resounded against " bishops and rotten-hearted
lords." ^ The former especially, being distinguishable by
their habit, and being the object of violent hatred to all the
« Nalson, toI. ii. p. 646. Journal, NoTember 16, 1641. Dugdale, p. 7T.
M Rushworth, part lii. vol. i. p. 710. "s Nalson, vol. ii. pp. 784, 702.
" Nalson, p. 692. Journal, December 27, 28, 29, 1641.
«5 Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 339. ™ Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 336.
318 HISTOBT OF ENGLAND.
sectaries, were exposed to the most dangerous insults."
Williams, now created Archbishop of York, having been
abused by the populace, hastily called a meeting of his
brethren. By his advice a protestation was drawn and ad-
dressed to the king and the House of Lords. The bishops
there set forth that though they had an undoubted right to
sit and vote in Parliament, yet, in coming thither, they had
been menaced, assaulted, affronted, by the unruly multitude,
and could no longer with safety attend their duty in the
House. For this reason they protested against laws, votes,
and resolutions as null and invalid which should pass during
the time of their constrained absence. This protestation,
which, though just and legal, was certainly ill timed, was
signed by twelve bishops, and communicated to the king,
who hastily approved of it. As soon as it was presented to
the Lords, that House desired a conference with the Com-
mons, whom they informed of this unexpected protestation.
The opportunity was seized with joy and triumph. An im-
peachment of high treason was immediately sent up against
the bishops, as endeavoring to subvert the fundamental laws
and to invalidate the authority of the legislature.'^' They
were, on the first demand, sequestered from Parliament and
committed to custody. No man, in either House, ventured
to speak a word in their vindication, so much displeased was
every one at the egregious imprudence of which they had
been guilty. One person alone said that he did not believe
them guilty of high treason, but that they were stark-mad,
and therefore desired they might be sent to Bedlam.*^
[1642.] A few days after, the king was betrayed into an-
other indiscretion, much more fatal — an indiscretion to which
all the ensuing disorders and civil wars ought immediately
and directly to be ascribed. This was the impeachment of
Lord Kimbolton and the five members.
When the Commons employed, in their remonstrance,
language so severe and indecent, they had not been actuated
entirely by insolence and passion ; their views were more
solid and profound. They considered that in a violent at-
tempt such as an invasion of the ancient constitution, the
more leisure Was afforded the people to reflect, the less
would they be inclined to second that rash and dangerous
enterprise ; that the Peers would certainly refuse their con-
«' Dujjflale, p. 78.
M Wliitlouke, p. 51. Eushworth, vol. v. p. 460. Nalson, vol. ii. p. 794.
fi" Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 355.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 319
cuvrence, nor were there any hopes of prevailing on them
but by instigating the populace to tumult and disorder;
that the employing of such odious means for so invidious an
end would, at long run, lose them all their popularity and
turn the tide of favor to the contrary party ; and that if the
king only remained in tranquillity, and cautiously eluded the
first violence of the tempest, he would, in the end, certainly
prevail, and be able at least to preserve the ancient laws ,
and constitutions. They were therefore resolved, if possible, {
to excite him to some violent passion, in hopes that he ! T)
would commit indiscretions of which they might make ad- j
vantage.
It was not long before they succeeded beyond their fond- j
est wishes. Charles ^yas enMged^to find that all his con- |
cessions but increased their demands ; that the people who j
were returning to a sense of duty towards him were again J
roused to sedition and tumults; that the blackest calumnies
were propagated against him, and even the Irish massacre
ascribed to his counsels and machinations; and that a
method of address was adopted, not only unsuitable to-
wards so great a prince, but which no private gentleman
could bear without resentment. When he considered all
these increasing acts of insolence in the Commons, he was
apt to ascribe them, in a great measure, to his own indo-
lence and facility. The queen and the ladies of the court
further stimulated his passion, and represented that if he
exerted the vigor and displayed the majesty of a monarch,
the daring usurpations of his subjects would shrink before
him. Lord Digby, a man of fine parts, but full of levity,
and hurried on by precipitate passions, suggested like
counsels ; and Charles, who, though commonly moderate in
his temper, was ever disposed to hasty resolutions, gave
way to the fatal importunity of his friends and servants.'"
Herbert, attorney-general, appeared in the House of
Peers, and, in his majesty's name, entered an accusation of
high treason against Lord Kimbolton and five commoners —
Hollis, Sn- Arthur Hazlerig, Harabden, Pym, and Strode.
The articles were, that they had traitorously endeavored to
subvert the fundamental laws and government of the king-
dom, to deprive the king of his regal power, and to imijose
on his subjects an arbitrary and tyrannical authority ; that
they had endeavored, by many foul asjiersions on his
maiesty and his government, to alienate the affections of his
T> Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 360.
320 IIISTOKY OP ENGLAND.
people and make him odious to them ; that they had at-
tempted to draw his late army to disobedience of his royal
commands, and to side with them in their traitorous de-
signs; that they had invited and encouraged a foreign
power to invade the kingdom ; that they had aimed at sub-
verting the rights and very being of Parliament ; that, in
order to complete their traitorous designs, they had en-
deavored, as far as in them lay, by force and terror, to
compel the Parliament to join .with them, and to that end
had actually raised and countenanced tumults against the
king and Parliament; and that they had traitorously con-
spired to levy, and actually had levied, war against the
king.''
The whole world stood amazed at this important accu-
sation, so suddenly entered upon, without concert, deliber-
ation, or reflection. Some of these articles of accusation,
men said, to judge by appearance, seem to be common
between the impeached members and the Parliament nor
did these persons appear any further active in the enter-
prises of which they were accused than so far as they con-
curred with the majority in their votes and speeches.
Though proofs might, perhaps, be produced of their privately
inviting the Scots to invade England, how could such an
attempt be considered as treason after the act of oblivion
which had passed, and after that both Houses, with the kmg's
concurrence, had voted that nation three hundred thousand
pounds for their brotherly assistance ? While the House of
IP'eers are scarcely able to maintain their independency, or
to reject the bills sent them by the Commons, will they ever
be permitted by the populace, supposing them inclined, to
pass a sentence which must totally subdue the lower House,
and put an end to their ambitious undertakings ? These
five members, at least Pym, Hambden, and Hollis, are the
very heads of the popular party ; and if these be taken off,
what fate must be expected by their followers, who are
many of them accomplices in the same treason ? The punish-
ment of leaders is ever the last triumph over a broken and
routed party, but surely was never before attempted in op-
position to a faction during the full tide of its power and
success.
But men had not leisure to wonder at the indiscretion of
this measure ; their astonishment was excited by new at-
'1 Wliitlocke, p. 60. Eusliworth, vol. y. p. 473. Nalson, vol. ii. p. 811. Frank-
lyu, p. 90(i.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 321
tempts still more precipitate and imprudent. A sergeant-
at-arms, in the king's name, demanded of the House the
five members, and was sent' back without any positive
answer. Messengers were employed to search for them and
arrest them. Their trunks, cliambers, and studies were
sealed and locked. The House voted all these acts of vio-
lence to be breaches of privilege, and commanded every one
to defend the liberty of the members.'^ The king, irritated
by all this opposition, resolved next day to come in person
to the House, with an intention to demand, perhaps seize,
in their presence the men whom he had accused.
This resolution was discovered to the Countess of Car-
lisle, sister to Northumberland, a lady of spirit, wit, and
intrigue.'' She privately sent intelligence to the five mem-
bers, and they had time to withdraw a moment before the
king entered. He was accompanied by his ordinary retinue,
to the number of above two hundred, armed as usual, some
with halberds, some with walking-swords. The king left
them at the door, and he himself advanced alone through
the hall, while all the members rose to receive him. The
speaker withdrew from his chair and the king took possession
of it. The speech which he made was as follows : " Gentle-
men, I am sori-y for this occasion of coming to you. Yester-
day I sent a sergeant-at-arms to demand some, who, by my
order, were accused of high treason. Instead of obedience,
I received a message. I must here declare to you that
though no king that ever was in ICngland could be more
careful of your privileges than I shall be, yet in cases of
treason no person has privilege. Therefore am I come to
tell you that I must have these men wheresoever I can find
them. Well, since I see all the birds are flown, I do expect
that you will send them to me as soon as they return. But
I assure you, on the word of a king, I never did intend any
force, but shall proceed against them in a fair and legal way,
for I never meant any other ; and now, since I see I cannot
do what I came for, I think this is no unfit occasion to re-
peat what I have said formerly, and whatever I have done
in favor and to the good of my subjects, I do intend to
maintain it.'"^
When the king was looking around for the accused
members, he asked the speaker, who stood below, whether
any of these persons were in the house? The speaker, fall-
'2 Whltlooke, p. BO. Kushworth, vol. v. pp. '^"i, 475.
w WWtlooke, p. 51. Warwick, p. 2U4. " WMtlocke, p. 50.
Vol. IV.— 21
322 HISTORY OF BNGIiAND.
ing on his knee, prudently replied, " I have, sir, neither eyes
to see nor tongue to speak, in this place, but as the House is
pleased to direct me, whose servant I am. And I humbly
ask pardon that I cannot give any other answer to what
your majesty is pleased to demand of me." ''
The Commons were in the utmost disorder ; and when
the king was departing, some members cried" aloud so as he
might hear them, " Privilege ! privilege ! " and the House
immediately adjourned till next day.'^
That evening the accused members, to show the greater
apprehension, removed into the city, which was their for-
tress. The citizens were the whole night in arms. Some
people who were appointed for that purpose, or perhaps
actuated by their own terrors, ran from gate to gate, cry-
ing out that the Cavaliers were coming to burn tlie city, and
that the king himself was at their head.
Next morning Charles sent to the mayoi', and ordered
him to call a common council immediately. About ten
o'clock, he himself, attended only by three or four lords,
went to Guildhall. He told the common council that he
was sorry to hear of the apprehensions entertained of him ;
that he was come to them without any guard, in order to
show how much he relied on their affections ; and that lie
had accused certain men of high treason, against whom he
would proceed in a legal way, and therefore presumed that
they would not meet with protection in the city. After
many other gracious expressions, he told one of the sheriffs,
who of the two was thought the least inclined to his service,
that he would dine with him. He departed the hall without
receiving the applause which he expected. In passino-
through the streets he heard the cry, " Privilege of Parlia^
ment! privilege of Parliament!" resounding from all quar-
ters. One of the populace, more insolent than the rest, drew
nigh to his coach, and called out with a loud voice, " To
our tents, O Israel ! " the words employed by the mutinous
Israelites wlien they abandoned Rehoboam, their rash and
ill-counselled sovereign."
When the House of Commons met, they affected the
greatest dismay ; and, adjourning themselves for some days,
ordered a committee to sit in Merchant Tailors' Hall in
the city. The committee made an exact enquiry into all
circumstances attending the king's entry into the House ;
™ Whitlocke, p. 50. May, bk. ii. p. 20. ™ Wliitlooke, p 51
" EusUwortli, vol. V. p. 479. Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 361. '
I
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. -323
every passionate speech, every menacing gesture of any,i
even the meanest, of his attendants, was recorded and
aggravated ; an intention of offering violence to the Parlia--
ment, of seizing the accused members in the very House,
and of murdering all who should make resistance, was in-
ferred ; and that unparalleled breach of privilege, so it was
called, was still ascribed to the counsel of Papists and their
adherents. This expression, which then recurred every
moment in speeches and memorials, and which at present is
so apt to excite laughter in the reader, begat at that time
the deepest and most real consternation throughout the
kingdom.
A letter was pretended to be intercepted, and was com-
municated to the committee, who pretended to lay great
stress upon it. One Catholic there congratulates another on
the accusation of the members, and represents that incident
as a branch of the same pious contrivance which had excited
the Irish insurrection, and by which the profane heretics
would soon be exterminated in England."
The House again met, and, after confirming the votes of
their committee, instantly adjourned, as if exposed to the
rnost imminent perils from the violence of their enemies.
This practice they continued for some time. When the
people, by these affected panics, were wrought up to a
sufficient degree of rage and terror, it was thought proper
that the accused members should, with a triumphant and
military procession, take their seats in the House. The
river was covered with boats and other vessels, laden with
small pieces of ordnance and prepared for fight. Skippon,
whom the Parliament had appointed, by their own authority,
major-general of the city militia,'^ conducted the members,
at the head of this tumultuary army, to Westminster Hall.
And when the 'populace, by land and by water, passed .
Whitehall, they still asked, with insulting shouts, "What
has become of the king and his Cavaliers? And whither are
they fled?" ^0
The king, apprehensive of danger from the enraged
multitude, had retired to Hampton Court, deserted by all
the world, and overwhelmed with grief, shame, and remorse
for the fatal measures into which he had been hurried. His
distressed situation he could no longer ascribe to the rigors
of destiny or the malignity of enemies ; his own precipitancy
■" Nalson, -vol. ii. p. 836. ™ Nalson, vol. ii. p. 833.
81 Wbitlocke, p. 52. Dugdale, p. 82. Clarendon, Tol. ii. p. 380.
324 HISTORY OF ElfGLAND.
aricl indiscretion must bear the blame of whatever disasters
should henceforth befall him. The most faithful of his
adherents, between sorrow and indignation, were confounded
with reflections on what had happened and what was likely
to follow. Seeing every prospect blasted, faction triumph-
ant, the discontented populace inflamed to a degree of fury,
they utterly despaired of success in a cause to whose rum
friends and enemies seemed equally to conspire.
The prudence of the king in his conduct of this affair no-
body pretended to justify. The legality of his proceedings
met with many and just apologies, though generally offered
to unwilling ears. No maxim of law, it was said, is more
established, or more universally allowed, than that privilege
of Parliament extends not to treason, felony, or breach of
peace ; nor has either House, during former ages, ever pre-
tended in any of those cases to interpose in behalf of its
members. Though some inconveniences should result from
the observance of this maxim, that would not be sufficient,
without other authority, to abolish a principle established
by uninterrupted precedent and founded on the tacit consent
of the whole legislature. But what are the inconveniences
so much dreaded ? The king, on pretence of treason, may
seize any members of the o]iposite faction, and, for a time,
gain to his partisans the majority of voices. But if he seize
only a few, will he not lose more friends by such a gross
artifice than he confines enemies? If he seize a great nuni-
ber, is not this expedient force, open and barefaced ? And
what remedy at all times against such force but to oppose to
it a force which is superior? Even allowing that the king
intended to employ violence, not authority, for seizing the
members (though at that time, and ever afterwards, he
positively asserted the contrary), j'et will his conduct admit
.of excuse. That the hall where the Parliament assembles
is an inviolable sanctuary was never yet protended. And if
the Commons complain of the affront offered them by an
attempt to arrest their members in their very presence, the
blame must lie entirely on themselves, who had formerly
refused compliance with the king's message when he peace-
ably demanded these members. The sovereign is the great
executor of the laws, and his presence was here legally em-
ployed, both in order to prevent opposition and to protect
the House against those insiilts which their disobedience had
so well merited.
' Charles knew to how little purpose he should urge these
HISTORY OB' ENGLAND. 325
reasons against the present fury of the Commons. He pro-
posed, therefore, by a message, that they would agree upon
a legal method by which he might carry on his prosecution
against the members, lest further misunderstandings hap-
pen with regard to privilege. They desired him to lay the
grounds of accusation before the House, and pretended that
they must first judge whether it were proper to give up
their members to a legal trial. The king then informed
them that he would waive for the present all prosecution ;
by successive messages, he afterwards offered a pardon to
the members ; offered to concur in any law that should ac-
quit or secure them ; offered any reparation to the House
for the breach of privilege, of which, he acknowledged, they
had reason to complain."^ They were resolved to accept of
no satisfaction, unless he would discover his advisers in that
illegal measure — a condition to which they knew that, with-
out rendering himself forever vile and contemptible, he
could not possibly submit. Meanwhile they continued to
thunder against the violation of parliamentary privileges,
and by their violent outcries to inflame the whole nation.
The secret reason of their displeasure, however obvious, they
carefully concealed. In the king's accusation of the mem-
bers they plainly saw his judgment of the late parliamentary
proceedings ; and every adherent of the ruling faction
dreaded the same fate should royal authority be re-estab-
lished in its ancient lustre. By the most unhappy conduct,
Charles, while he extremely augmented in his opponents
the will, had also increased the ability, of hurting him.
The more to excite the people, whose dispositions were
already very seditious, the expedient of petitioning was re-
newed. A petition from the county of Buckingham was
presented to the House by six thousand subscribers, who
promised to live and die in defence of the privileges of Par-
liament.'^ The city of London, the county of Essex, that of
Hertford, Surrey, Berks, imitated the example. A petition
from the apprentices was graciously received.'^ Nay, one
was encouraged from the porters, whose numbers amounted,
as they said, to fifteen thousand."* The address of that
great body contained the same articles with all the others,
the privileges of Parliament, the danger of religion, the re-
bellion of Ireland, the decay of trade. The porters fui-ther
»i Dugdale, p. 84. Eush worth, toI. t. pp. 484, 488, 492, etc.
82 Eushworth, vol. v. p. 487. '^ Eushwortli, vol. v. p. 462.
M Dugdale, p. 87.
326 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
desired that justice might be done upon offenders, as the
atrociousness of their crimes had deserved. And they
added " that if such remedies were any longer suspendad,
they should be forced to extremities not lit to be named,
and" make good the saying that 'Necessity has no law.' " *^
Another petition was presented by several poor people,
or beggars, in the name of many thousands more, in which
the petitioners proposed as a remedy for the public miseries
" that those noble worthies of the House of Peers who con-
cur with the happy votes of the Commons may separate
*lhemselves from the rest, and sit and vote as one entire
body." The Commons gave thanks for this petition.'^
The very women were seized with the same rage. A
brewer's wife, followed by many thousands of her sex,
brought a petition to the House, in which the petitioners
expressed their terror of the Papists and prelates, and their
dread of like massacres, rapes, and outrages with those
■which had been committed upon their sex in Ireland. They
had been necessitated, they said, to imitate the example of
the woman of Tekoah ; and they claimed equal right with the
men of declaring by petition their sense of the public cause,
because Christ had purchased them at as dear a rate, and
in the free enjoyment of Christ consists equally the happi-
ness of both sexes. Pym came to the door of the House,
and having told the female zealots that their petition was
thankfully accepted, and was presented in a seasonable
time, he begged that their prayers for the success of the
Commons might follow their petition. Such low arts of
popularity were affected, and by such illiberal cant were the
unhappy people incited to civil discord and convulsions.
In the mean time, not only all petitions which favored
the Church or monarchy, from whatever hand they came,
were discouraged, but the petitioners were sent for,"impris-
soned, and prosecuted as delinquents ; and this uneqal con-
duct was openly avowed and justified. Whoever desire a
change, it was said, must express their sentiments; for how,
otherwise, shall they be known ? But those who favor the
established government in Church or State should not peti-
tion, because they already enjoy what they wish for."
The king had possessed a great party in the Lower
House, as appeared in the vote for the remonstrance ; and
this party, had every new cause of disgust been carefully
fli* Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 412. 86 Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 413
8' Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 449.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 327
avoided, would soon have become the majority, irom the
odium attending the violent measures embraced by the
popular leaders. A great majority he always possessed in
the House of Peers, even after the bishops were confined or
chased away ; and this majority could not have been over-
come but by outrages which, in the end, would have drawn
disgrace and ruin on those who had incited them. By the
present fury of the people, as by an inundation, were all these
obstacles swept away, and every rampart of royal authority
laid level with the ground. The victory was pursued with
impetuosity by the sagacious Commons, who knew the im-
portance of a favorable moment in all popular commotions.
The terror of their authority they extended over the whole
nation ; and all opposition, and even all blame, vented in
private con"ersation, were treated as the most atrocious
crimes by these severe inquisitors. Scarcely was it per-
mitted to find fault with the conduct of any particular
member, if he made a figure in the House; and reflections
thrown out on Pyra were at this time treated as breaches
of privilege. The pojDulace without doors were ready to
execute, from the least hint, the will of their leaders ; nor
was it safe for any member to approach either House who
pretended to control or oppose the general torrent. After
so undisguised a manner was this violence conducted that
Hollis, in a speech to the Peers, -desired to know the names
of such members as should vote contrary to the sentiments
of the Commons.*' And Pym said, in the lower House,
that the people must not be restrained in the expressions of
their just desires.^
By the flight of terror or despondency of the king's
party, an undisputed majority remained everywhere to their
opponents ; and the bills sent up by the Commons, which
had hitherto stopped with the Peers and would certainly
have been rejected, now passed, and were presented for the
royal assent. These were the pressing bill with its pream-
ble, and the bill against the votes of the bishops in Parlia-
ment. The king's authority was at this time reduced to
the lowest ebb. The queen, too, being secretly threatened
with an impeachment, and finding no resource in her hus-
band's protection, was preparing to retire into Holland.
The rage of the people was, on account of her religion as
well as her spirit and activity, universally levelled against
her. Usage the most contumelious she had hitherto borne
s» King's Declaration of the 12tli of August, 1642. " Ibid.
328 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
with silent indignation. The Commons, in their fury against
priests, had seized her very confessor ; nor would they re-
lease him upon her repeated applications. Even a visit of
the prince to his mother had been openly complained of,
and remonstrances against it had been presented to her.'"
Apprehensive of attacks still more violent, she was desirous
of facilitating her escape ; and she prevailed with the king
to pass these bills, in hopes of appeasing for a time the rage
of the multitude."^
These new concessions, however important, the king
immediately found to have no other effect than all the pre-
\ ceding ones : they were made the foundation of demands
\ still more exorbitant. From the facility of his disposition,
'from the weakness of his situation, the Commons believed
that he could now refuse them nothing. And they regarded
the least moment of relaxation in their invasion of royal
authority as highly impolitic during the uninterrupted tor-
rent of their successes. The very moment they were in-
formed of these last acquisitions, they affronted the queen
by opening some intercepted letters written to her by Lord
Digby ; they carried up an impeachment against Herbert,
attornej--general, for obeying his master's commands in ac-
cusing their members.^'' And they prosecuted with fresh
vigor their plan of the militia, on which they rested all
future hopes of an uncontrolled authority.
The Commons were sensible that monarchical govern-
ment, which, during so many ages, had been established in
England, would soon regain some degree of its former dig-
nity after the present tempest was overblown ; nor would
all their new-invented limitations be able totally to suppress
an authority to which the nation had ever been" accustomed.
The sword alone, to which all human ordinances must sub-
mit, could guard their acquired power, and fully insure to
them personal safety against the rising indignation of their
sovereign. This point, therefore, became the chief object
of their aims. A large magazine of arms being placed in
the town of Hull, they despatched thither Sir John Hotham,
a gentleman of considerable fortune in the neighborhood,
and of an ancient family ; and they gave him the authority
of governor. They sent orders to Goring, Governor of
Portsmouth, to obey no commands but such as he should
receive from the Parliament. Not content with having
"0 NalBoii, TOl. ii. p. 512. oi Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 428
»2 Rushworth, vol. v. p. 489. Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 385.
HISTORY OF t;ngland. 329
obliged the king to displace Lunsford, whom he nad ap-
pointed governor of the Tovver,"^ thej' never ceased solicit-
ing him till he had also displaced Sir John Biron, a man of
unexceptionable character, and had bestowed that command
on Sir John Conyers, in whom alone they said they could
repose confidence. After making a fruitless attempt, in
which the Peers refused their concurrence, to give public
warning that the people should put themselves in a posture
of defence against the enterprises of " Papists and other ill-
affected persons," ^* they now resolved, by a bold and de-
cisive stroke, to seize at once the whole power of the sword,
and to confer it entirely on their own creatures and ad-
herents.
The severe votes passed in the beginning of this Parlia-
ment against lieutenants and their deputies for exercising
powers assumed by all their predecessors had totally dis-
armed the crown, and had not left in any magistrate mili-
tary authority sufficient for the defence and security of the
nation. To remedy this inconvenience now appeared neces-
sary. A bill was introduced, and passed the two Houses,
which restored to lieutenants and deputies the same powers
of which the votes of the Commons had bereaved them ;
but at the same time the names of all the lieutenants were
inserted in the bill, and these consisted entirely of men in
whom the Parliament could confide. And for their conduct
they were accountable, by the express terms of the bill, not
to the king, but to the Parliament.
The policy pursued by the Commons, and which had
hitherto succeeded to admiration, was to astonish the king
by the boldness of their enterprises, to intermingle no
sweetness with their severity, to employ expressions no less
violent than their pretensions, and to make him sensible in
what little estimation they held both his person and his dig-
nity. To a bill so destructive of royal authority they pie-
fixed, with an insolence seemingly wanton, a preamble
equally dishonorable to the personal character of the king.
These are the words : " Whereas there has been of late a
most dangerous and desperate design upon the House of
Commons, which we have just cause to believe an effect of
the bloody counsels of Papists and other ill-affected persons,
who have already raised a rebellion in the kingdom of Ire-
land ; and whereas, by reason of many discoveries, we can-
not but fear they will proceed, not only to stir up the like
93 Busliworth, Tol. v. p. 459. '* Nalson, vol. ii- p. 850.
330 HISTOEY OP ENGLAND.
rebellions and insurrections in this kingdom of England,
but also to back them with forces from abroad," '^ etc.
Here Charles first ventured to put a stop to his conces-
sions ; and that not by a refusal, but a delay. Wheu this;
demand was made — a demand which, if granted, the Com-
mons justly regarded as the last they should ever have oc-
casion to make — he was at Dover, attending the queen and
the Princess of Orange in their embarkation. He replied
that he had not now leisure to consider a matter of so great
importance, and must therefore respite his answer till his re-
turn.^^ The Parliament instantly despatched another mes-
sage to him, with solicitations still more importunate. They
expressed their great grief on account of his niajesty''s an-
swer to their just and necessary petition. They represented
that any delay, during dangers and distractions so great
and pressing, was not less unsatisfactory and destructive
than an absolute denial. They insisted that it was their
duty to see put in execution a measure so necessary for
public safety ; and they affirmed that the people in many
counties had applied to them for that purpose, and in some
places were, of themselves and by their own authority, pro-
viding against those urgent dangers with which they were
threatened.*"
Even after this insolence the king durst not venture
upon a flat denial. Besides excepting to the preamble,
which threw such dishonor upon him, and protesting the
innocence of his intentions when he entered tlie House of
Commons, he only desired that the military authority, if it
were defective, should first be conferred upon the crown ;
and he promised to bestow commissions, but such as should
be revocable at pleasure, on the same pei-sons whom the
Parliament had named in the bill."^ By a former message
he had expressed his wishes that they would lay before
him, in one view, all the concessions which they deemed
requisite for the settlement of the nation. They pretended
that they were exposed to perils so dreadful and imminent
that they had not leisure for such a work.'^ The expedient
proposed by the king seemed a suflScient remedy during
this emergency, and yet maintained the prerogatives of the
crown entire and unbroken.
But the intentions of the Commons were wide of this
purpose, and their panics could be cured by one remedy
»= Rushworth, vol. v. p. 619. <" Eushworth, vol. v. p. 521. m Ibid
" liushwortU, vol. v. p. 521. on Kushworth, vol. v. pp. 516, 517."
HISTOET OF EN-GLAND. 331
alone. They instantly replied that the dangeis and dis-
tempers of the nation were such as could endure no longer
delay; and unless the king speedily complied with their
demands, they should be constrained, for the safety of
prince and people, to dispose of the militia by the authority
of both Houses, and were resolved to do it accordingly.
They asserted that those parts of the kingdom which had,
from their own authority, put themselves in a posture of
defence during these prevailing fears and jealousies had
acted suitably to the declarations, and directions of both
Houses, and conformably to the laws of the kingdom. And
while they thus menaced the king with their power, they
invited him to fix his residence at London, where they knew
he would be entirely at mercy.""
" I am so much amazed at this message," said the king,
in his prompt reply, "that I know not what to answer.
You speak of jealousies and fears ! Lay your hands on
your hearts, and ask yourselves whether I may not likewise
be disturbed with fears and jealousies ; and if so, I assure
you that this message has nothing lessened them.
" As to tlie militia, I thought so much of it before I
gave that answei', and am so much assured that the answer
is agreeable to what in justice Or reason you can ask, or I
in honor grant, that I shall not alter it in any point.
" For my residence near you, I wish it might be safe and
honorable, and that I had no cause to absent myself from
Whitehall ; ask yourselves whether I have not."^
" What would you have ? Have I violated your laws ?
Have I denied to pass any bill for the ease and security of
my subjects ? I do not ask what you have done for me.
" Have any of my people been transported with fears and
apprehensions ? I offer as free and general a pardon as
yourselves can devise. All this considered, there is a judg-
ment of Heaven upon this nation if these distractions con-
tinue.
" God so deal with me and mine as all my thoughts and
intentions are upright for the maintenance of the truie Prot-
estant profession, and for the observance and preservation
of the laws ; and I hope God will bless and assist those laws
for iny preservation." "'^
No sooner did the Commons despair of obtaining the .
king's consent to their bill than they instantly voted that /
loo Rushworth, part iii. vol. i, ch. iv. p. 533.
Ml Eusliworth, vol. v. p. 524. m' Eushworth, vol. v. p. 632.
332 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
those who advised his majesty's answer were enemies to the
state and mischievous projectors against the safety of the
nation ; that this denial is of such dangerous consequence
that, if his majesty persist in it, it will hazard the peace and
tranquillity of all his kingdoms, unless some speedy remedy
be applied by the wisdom and authority of both Houses ;
and that such of the subjects as have put themselves in a
posture of defence against the common danger have done
nothing but what is justifiable and approved by the House. ^"^
Lest the people might be averse to the seconding of all
these usur]jations, they were plied anew with rumors of dan-
ger, with the terrors of invasion, with the dread of English
and Irish Papists ; and the most unaccountable panics were
spread throughout the nation. Lord Digby having entered
Kingston in a coach and six, attended by a few livery ser-
vants, the intelligence was conveyed to ]>ondon ; and it was
immediately voted that he had appeared in a hostile manner,
to the terror and affright of his majesty's subjects, and had
levied war against the king and kingdom ^°* Petitions from
all quarters loudly demanded of the Parliament to put the
nation in a posture of defence ; and the county of Stafford,
in particular, expressed such dread of an insurrection among
the Papists that every man, they said, was constrained to
stand upon his guard, not even daring to go to church un-
armedJ"^
Tpat the same violence by which he had so long been
oppressed might not still reach him and extort his consent
to the militia bill, Charles had resolved to remove further
from London ; and, accordingly, taking the Prince of Wales
and the Duke of York along with him, he arrived by slow
journeys at York, which he determined for some time to
I make the place of his resid'ence. The distant parts of the
\ kingdom, being removed fi'om that furious vortex of new
, principles and opinions which had transported the capital,
1 still retained a sincere regard for the Church and monarchy;
'and the king here found marks of attachment beyond what
•'he had before expected.'"^ From all quarters of England,
the prime nobility and gentry, either personally or by mes-
sages and letters, expressed tlieir duty towards him, and
exhorted him to save himself and them from that ignomin-
ious slavery with which they were threatened. The small
103 Riishworth, part iii. vol. i. ch. iv. p. 524.
iM Clarendon. Rusjiwortli, part iii. vgl. i. ch, ii. p. 496.
[ 105 Dugdale, p. 88. wo Warwick, p. 203.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 333
interval of time which had passed since the fatal accusation
of the members had been sufficient to open the eyes of many,
and to recover them from the astonishment witli which at
first they had been seized. One i-ash and passionate attempt
of the king's seemed but a small counterbalance to so many
acts of deliberate violence which had been offered to him
and every branch of the legislature ; and, however sweet
the sound of liberty, many resolved to adliere to that mod-
erate freedom transmitted them from their ancestors, and
now better secured by such important concessions, rather
than, by engaging in a giddy search after more independence,
run manifest risk either of incurring a cruel subjection or
abandoning all law and order.
Charles, finding himself supported by a considerable
party in the kingdom, began to speak in a firmer tone, and
to retort the accusations of the Commons with a vigor which
he had not before exerted. Notwithstanding their remon-
strances and menaces and insults, he still persisted in refus-
ing their bill ; and they proceeded to frame an ordinance, in
which, by the authority of the two Houses, without the
king's consent, they named lieutenants for all the counties,
and conferred on them the command of the whole military
force, of all the guards, garrisons, and forts of the kingdom.
He issued proclamations against this manifest usurpation ;
and, as he professed a resolution strictly to observe the law
himself, so was he determined, he said, to oblige every other
jDerson to pay it a like obedience. The name of the king
was essential to all laws, and so familiar in all acts of exec-
utive authority that the Parliament was afraid, had they
totally omitted it, that the innovation would be too sensible
to the people. In all commands, therefore, which they con-
ferred, they bound the persons to obey the orders of his
majesty, signified by both Houses of Parliament ; and, in-
venting a distinction liitherto unheard of between the office
and the person of the king, those very forces which they
employed against him, they levied in his name and by his
authority.^"'
It is remarkable how much the topics of argument were
now reversed between the parties. The king, while he ac-
knowledged his former error of employing a plea of neces-
sity in order to infringe the laws and constitution, warned
the Parliament not to imitate an example on which they
threw such violent blame ; and the Parliament, while they
10' Kushwortli, vol. v. p. 526.
334 HISTORY OV EiSTGLAND.
clothed their personal fears or ambition under the appear-
ance of national and imminent danger, made unknow-
ingly an apology for the most exceptionable part of the
king's conduct. / That the liberties of the people were no
longer exposed to any peril from royal authority, so nar-
rowly circumscribed, so exactly defined, so much unsup-
ported by revenue and by military power, might be main-
tained upon very plausible topics ; but that the danger,
allowing it to have any existence, was not of that kind —
great, urgent, inevitable, which dissolves all law and levels
all limitations — seems apparent from the simplest view of
these transactions. So obvious, indeed, was the king's pres-
ent inability to invade the constitution that the fears and
jealousies which operated on the people, and pushed them
so furiously to arms, were undoubtedly not of a civil, but of
a religious nature. The distempered imaginations of men
were agitated with a continual dread of popery, with a hor-
ror against prelacy, with an antipathy to ceremonies and the
liturgy, and with a violent affection for whatever was most
opposite to these objects of aversion. The fanatical spirit
let loose, confounded all regard to ease, safety, interest, and
dissolved every moral and civil obligation.^"^
Each party was now willing to throw on its antagonist
the odium of commencing a civil war ; but both of them
prepared for an event which they deemed inevitable. To
gain the people's favor and good opinion was the chief point
■on both sides. Never was there a people less corrupted by
vice and more actuated by principle than the English during
that period. Never were there individuals who possessed
;more capacity, more coui-age, more public spirit, more dis-
lintergsted zeal. The infusion of one ingredient in too large
a proportion had corrupted all these noble principles and
converted them into the most virulent poison. To determine
his choice in the approaching contests, every man hearkened
with avidity to the reasons proposed on both sides. The
war of the pen preceded that of the sword, and daily sharp-
ened the humors of the opposite parties. Besides private
adventurers without number, the king and Parliament them-
selves carried on the controversy by messages, remonstrances,
and declarations, where the nation was really the party to
whom all arguments were addressed. Charles had here a
double advantage. Not only his cause was more favorable,
as supporting the ancient government in Church and State
™ See note [U] at the end o£ the volume.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 335
against the most illegal pretensions, it was also defended
with more art and eloquence. Lord Falkland had accepted
the ofBce of secretary — a rnan who adorned the purest vir-
tue with the richest gifts of nature and the most valuable
acquisitions of learning. By him, assisted by the king him-
self, were the memorials of the royal party chiefly composed.
So sensible was Charles of his sujjeriority in this particular
that he took care to disperse everywhere the papers of the
Parliament together with his own, that the people might be
the more enabled by comparison to form a judgment between
them. The Parliament, while they distributed copies of
their own, were anxious to suppress all the king's composi-
tions.i"'
To clear up the principles of the constitution, to mark
the boundaries of the powers intrusted by law to the several
members, to show what great improvementij the whole polit-
ical system had received from the king's late concessions,
to demonstrate his entire confidence in his people and his
reliance on their affections, to point out the ungrateful re-
turns which had been made him, and the enormous en-
croachments, insults, and indignities to which he had been,
exposed — these were the topics which, with so much just-
ness of reasoning and propriety of expression, were insisted
on in the king's declarations and remonstrances.""
Though these writings were of consequence, and tended
much to reconcile the nation to Charles, it was evident that
they would not be decisive, and that Jceener w.£apons^.m.ust
determine the controversy. To the ordinance of the Parlia-
rnernrlioncerning the militia, the king opposed his com-
missions of array. The counties obeyed the one or the
other, according as they stood affected. And in many
counties, where the people were divided, mobbish combats
and skirmishes ensued."^ The Parliament, on this occasion,
went so far as to vote " that when the Lords and Commons
in Parliament, which is the supreme court of judicature,
shall declare what the law of the land is, to have this not
only questioned, but contradicted, is a high breach of their
privileges." "^ This was a plain assuming of the whole
legislative authority, and exerting' it in the most material
article, the government of the militia. Upon the same prin-
ciples, they pretended, by a verbal criticism on the tense of
M» Eushworth, toI. v. p. 751. "» See note IX] at the end of the volume.
1" May, bk. il. p. 99. "^ Eushworth, vol. v. p. 534.
336 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
a Latin vevb, to ravish from the king his negative voice in
the legislature.™
The magazine of Hull contained the arms of all the
forces levied against the Scots ; and Sir John Hothani, tlie
governor, though he had accepted of a commission from
the Parliament, was not thought to be much disaffected to
the Church and monarchy. Charles, therefore, entertained
hopes that, if he presented himself at Hull before the com-
mencement of hostilities, Hotham, overawed by his presence,
would admit him with his retinue; after which he might
easily render himself master of the place. But the gov-
ernor was on his guard. He shut the gates and refused to
receive the king, who desired leave to enter with twenty
persons only. Charles immediately proclaimed him traitor,
and complained to the Parliament of his disobedience.
The Parliament avowed and justified the action."*
The county of York levied a guard for the king of six
hundred men ; for the kings of England had hitherto lived
'among their subjects like fathers among their children, and
had derived all their security from tlie dignity of their
character and from the protection of the laws. The two
, Houses, though they had already levied a guard for them-
SL'1\ es, had attempted to seize all the military power, all the
navy, and all tlie forts of the kingdom; and had openly
em]iloyed their authority in every kind of warlike prep-
arations, yet inmicdiately voted " that the king, seduced
by wicked counsel, intended to make war against his Parlia-
ment, who, in all their consultations and actions, had pro-
posed no other end but the care of his kingdoms and the
performance of all duty and loyalty to his person ; that this
attempt was a breach of the trust reposed in him bv his
people, contrary to his oath, and tending to a dissolution of
the government; and that whoever should assist him in
such a war were traitors by the fundamental laws of the
kingdom." "*
The armies, which had been everywhere raised on pre-
tence of the service in Ireland, were henceforth more openly
enlisted by the Parliament for their own purposes, and the
'" The king, by his coronalion oath, promises iliat he would maintain the
laws and customs which the people had chosen, guas vulr/us elegerlt; the Parlia-
ment pretended tliat eleqeril meant shall choose, and eonsequently tiiat the kiue
had no right to refuse any bills which ahould be presented him. See Kushwortli
vol. V. p. 5S0. '
>" Whitloeke, p. 65. Rushworth, vol. v. p. BSo, etc. May, bk. ii p 51
"i Whitlocke, p. 57. Kushworth, vol. v. p. 717. Dugd'ale, p. 93. May, bk.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
"^7
commcand of them was given to the Earl of Essex. Iii
London, no less than four thousand men enlisted in one "-
day."^ And the Parliament voted a declaration, which they
required every member to subscribe, that they would live
and die with their general.
They issued orders for bringing in loans of money and i
plate, in order to maintain forces which should defend the
king and both Houses of Parliament; for this style they still
preserved. Within ten days, vast quantities of plate were -
brought to their treasurers. Hardly were there men enough ;
to receive it or room sufficient to stow it; and many, with'
regret, were obliged to carry back their offerings and wait
till the treasurers could find leisure to receive them. Such
zeaj^ animated the piou^ partisans of the Parliament.,_.e&pe —
ci.ally in the city 1 The women gave up all the plate and
ornaments of their houses, and even their silver thimbles
and bodkins, in order to support the good cause against the
malign ants.'"
Meanwhile, the splendor of the nobility with which the
king was environed much eclipsed the appearance at West-
minster. Lord Keeper Littleton, after sending the great '
seal before him, had fled to York. Above forty peers of the
first rank attended the king,^" while the House of Lords
seldom consisted of more than sixteen members. Near the
moiety, too, of the lower House absented themselves from
counsels which they deemed so full of danger. The Com-
mons sent up an impeachment against nine peers for desert-
ing their duty in Parliament. Their own members, also,
who should return to them, they voted not to admit till
satisfied concerning the reason of their absence.
Charles made a declaration to the peers who attended
him that he expected from them no obedience to any com-
mands which were not warranted by the laws of the land.
The peei'S answered this declaration by a protest, in which
they declared their resolution to obey no commands but
such as were warranted by that anthority.^^' By these de- ■ ,
liberate engagements, so worthy of an English prince and f
English nobility, they meant to confound the furious and J
"tumultuary resolutions taken by the Parliament.
The queen, disposing of the crown jewels in Holland,
had been enabled to purchase a cargo of arms and am-
"" Vicar's God in the Mount. "' WhiUocke, p. D8. Dugdale, pp. 96, 99.
'" May, bk. ii, p. 59.
IM Kusliworth, vol. v. pp. 626, 627. May, bk. ii. p. 86. Warwick, p. 210.
Vol. IV.— 22
33!« HISTORY OF ENGLAND. ,
munition. Part of these, after escaping many perils, ar-
rived safely to the king. His preparations were ijoj-near so
~ forward as those of the Parliament. In order to remove all
jealousy, he had resolved that their usurpations and illegal
pretensions should be apparent to the whole world, and
thought that to recover the confidence of the people was a
point much more material to his interest than the collecting
of any magazines, stores, or armies, which might breed ap-
prehensions of violent or illegal counsels. But the urgent
necessity of his situation no longer admitted of delay. He
now prepared himself for defence. With a spirit, activity,
and address which neither tlie one party apprehended nor
the other expected, he employed all the advantages which
remained to him, and roused up his adherents to arms.
The resources of this prince's genius increased in proportion
to his difficulties, and he never appeared greater than when
plunged into the deepest perils and distresses. From the
mixed character, indeed, of Charles arose in part the mis-
' fortunes in which England was at this time involved. His
1 political errors, or rather jtgakji£a§e§j had raised him in-
' veterate enemies ; his eminent moral virtues had procured
\ him zealoiis partisans ; and between the h.atred of the one
and the affections of the other was the nation agitated with
the most violent convulsions.
That the king might despair of all composition, the Par-
liament sent him the conditions on which they were willing
'to come to an agreement. Their demands, contained in
nineteen propositions, amounted to a total abolition of mon-
-archical authority. They required that no man should re-
main in the council who was not agreeable to Parliament ;
that no deed of the king's should have validity unless it
passed the council and was attested under their hand ; that
all the officers of state and principal judges should be chosen
with consent of Parliament, and enjoy their offices for life ;
that none of the royal family should marry without consent
of Parliament or council ; that the laws should be executed
against Catholics ; that the votes of popish lords should be
excluded ; that the reformation of the liturgy and Church
government should have place according to advice of Par-
liament ; that the ordinance with regard to the militia be
submitted to ; that the justice of Parliament pass upon all
delinquents ; that a general pardon be granted, with such
exceptions as should be advised by Parliament ; that the
forts and castles be disposed of by consent of Parlia-
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 339
ment ; and that no peer be made but with consent of both
Houses.^^
" Should I grant these demands," said the king, in reply,
" I may be waited on bareheaded ; I may have my hand
kissed ; the title of majesty may be continued to me ; and
' The king's authority, signified by both Houses,' may still
be the style of your commands ; I may have swords and
maces carried before me, and please myself with the sight
of a crown and sceptre (though even these twigs would not
long flourish when the stock upon which they grew was ,
dead ) ; but as to true and real power, I should remain buf^ J
the outside, but the picture, but the sign of a king." ^^"^J
War on any terms was esteemed by the king and all his|
councillors preferable to so ignominious a peace. Charles'
accordingly resolved to support his authority by arms.
" His towns," he said, " were taken from him, his ships, his
arms, his money ; but there still remained to him a good
cause and the hearts of his loyal subjects, which, with God's
blessing, he doubted not, would recover all the rest." Col-
lecting, therefore, some forces, he advanced southwards ;
and at Nottingham he erected his royal standard, the open
signal of discord and civil war throughout the kingdom.
™ Kushworth, vol. v. p. 722. May, bk. ii. p. 54.
jsi Kushworth, vol. v. p. 728. Warwick, p. 189.
340 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER LVI.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL WAE. — STATE OP PAETIBS.
BATTLE OF EDGEHILL. NEGOTIATION AT OXFORD. VIC-
TORIES OF THE ROYALISTS IN THE WEST. BATTLE OF
STEATTON OF LANSDOWN OF EO0NDWAY DOWN.
DEATH OF HAMBDEN. BEISTOL TAKEN. SIEGE OF GLOU-
CESTEE. BATTLE OF NEWBUEY. ACTIONS IN THE NOETH
OF ENGLAND. SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT. ARMING
OF THE SCOTS. STATE OF lEELAND.
[1642.] When two names so sacred in the English con-
' stitution as tliose of King and Parliament were placed in op-
position, no wonder the people were divided in their choice,
and were agitated with the most violent animosities and
factions.
The nobility and more considerable gentry, dreading a
■' total confusion of rank from the fury of the populace, en-
listed themselves in defence of the monarch, from whom
they received, and to whom they communicated their lustre.
Animated with the spirit of loyalty derived from their an-
cestors, they adhered to the ancient principles of the consti-
tution, and valued themselves on exerting the maxims as
well as inheriting the possessions of the old English fami-
lies ; and while they passed their time mostly at their coun-
try-seats, they were surprised to hear of opinions prevailing
with which they had ever been unacquainted, and which
implied not a limitation, but an abolition, almost total, of
monarchical authority.
The city of London, on the other hand, and most of the
; gi-eat corporations, took part with the Parliament, and
adopted with zeal those democratical principles on which
thea»i;eteng^ons of that assembly were founded. The gov-
ernmentofcitfe, which even under absolute monarchies is
commonly republican, inclined them to this party : the small
hereditary influence which can be retained over the indus-
trious inhabitants of towns, the natural independence of cit-
izens, and the force of popular currents over those more nu-
merous associations of mankind — all these causes gave, there,
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 341
authority to the new principles propagated throughout the
nation. Many families, too, which had lately been enriched
by commerce saw with indignation that, notwithstanding
their opulence, they could not raise themselves to a level
with the ancient gentry ; they therefore adhered to a power
by whose success they hoped to acquire rank and consider-
ation ; ^ and the new splendor and glory of the Dutch com- -
monwealth, where liberty so happily supported industry,
made the commercial part of the nation desire to see a like
form of government established in England.
The genius of the two religions, so closely at this time
inter wovtn with politics, corresponded exactly to these di-
visions. The Presbyterian religion was new, republican,
and suited to the genius of the populace ; the other had an
air of greater show and ornament, was established on an-
cient authority, and bore an affinity to the kingly and aris-
tocratical parts of the constitution. The devotees of pres- ■
bytery became, of course, zealous partisans of the Parlia-
ment; the friends of the Episcopal Church valued them-
selves on defending the rights of monarchy.
Some men also there were of, Uljeral education who,
being either careless or ignorant of^ those disputes bandied
about by the clergy on both sides, aspired to nothing but an
easy enjoyment of life amid the jovial entertainment and
social intercourse of their companions. All these flocked
to the king's standard, where they breatlied a freer air, and [
were exempted from that rigid preciseness and melancholy
austerity which reigned among the parliamentary party.
Never was a quarrel more unequal than seemed at first [
that between the contending parties ;^ almost every ad van-]
tags, layjigainst the royal ^cause. The kmg's revenue had '
TOen seized, from the beginning, by the Parliament, who
issued out to him, from time to time, small sums for his
present subsistence ; and as soon as he withdrew to York
they totally stopped all payments. London and all the sea-
ports, except Newcastle, being in their hands, the customs
yielded them a certain and considerable supply of money;
and all contributions, loans, and impositions were more ea-
sily raised from the cities which possessed the ready money,
and where men lived under their inspection, than they could
be levied by the king in those open countries which after
some time declared for him.
The seamen naturally followed the disposition of the
• Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 4.
342 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
seaports to wliicli they belonged ; and the Earl of Northum-
berland, lord admiral, having embraced the party of the
Parliament, had appointed, at their desire, the Earl of
Warwick to be his lieutenant, who at once established his
authority m the fleet, and kept the entire dominion of the
sea in the hands of that assembly.
All the magazines of arms and ammunition were from
the first seized by the Parliament ; and their fleet intercepted
the greater part of those which were sent by the queen from
Holland. The king was obliged, in order to arm his follow-
ers, to borrow the weapons of the trained bands, under
promise of restoring them as soon as peace should be settled
in the kingdom.
The veneration for parliaments was at this time extreme
throughout the nation.^ The custom of reviling those
assemblies for corruption, as it had no pretence, so was it
unknown during all former ages. Few or no instances of
their encroaching ambition or selfish claims had hitherto
been observed. Men considered the House of Commons in
no other light than as the representatives of the nation,
whose interest was the same with that of the public, who
were the eternal gardians of law and liberty, and whom no
motive but the necessary defence of the people could ever
engage in an opposition to the crown. The torrent, there-
fore, of general affection ran to the Parliament. Wliat is
the great advantage of popularity, the privilege of affixing
epithets, fell of course to that party. The king's adherents
were the Wicked and the Malignant ; their adversaries
were Godly and the Well-affected. And as the force of the
cities was more united than that of the country, and at once
gave shelter and protection to the parlimentary party, who
could easily suppress the roy.alists in their neighborhood,
almost the whole kingdom, at the commencement of tlie war,
seemed to be in the hands of the Parliament.'
What alone gave the king some compensation for all the
/advantages possessed by his adversaries was thejiaturejiiid
.qualities of his adherents. More bravery and activity were
hoped for, from the generous spirit of the" nobles and gentry,
than from the base dispositionxilthe multitude ; and°as the
men of estates, at their own expense, levied and armed their
tenants, besides an attachment to their masters, greater
force and courage were to be expected in these rustic troops
than in the vicious and enervated populace of cities.
2 Walker, p. 336. 3 Warwick, p. 318.
HISTOET 01" ENGLAND. 343
The neighboring states of Europe, being engaged in
violent wars, little interested themselves in tliese civil
commotions ; and this island enjoyed the singular advantage
(for such it surely was) of fighting out its own quarrels with-
out the interposition of foreigners. France, from policy,,
had fomented the first disorders in Scotland, had sent over'
arms to the Irish rebels, and continued to give countenance
to the English Parliament ; Spain, from bigotry, furnished
the Irish with some supplies of money and arms. The
Prince of Orange, closely allied to the crown, encouraged^
English officers who served in the Low Countries to enlist
in the king's army ; the Scottish officers, who had been
formed in Germany and in tlie late commotions, chiefly took
part with the Parliament.
The contempt entertained by the Parliament for the
king's party was so great that it was the chief cause of j)ush-
ing matters to such extremities against him ; and many
believed that he never would attempt resistance, but must
soon yield to the pretensions, however enormous, of the two
Houses. Even after his standard was erected, men could
not be brought to apprehend the danger of a civil war ; nor
was it imagined that he would have the imprudence to
enrage his implacable enemies, and render his own condition
more desperate by opposing a force wliich was so much
superior. The low condition in which he appeared at Not-
tingham confirmed all these hopes. His artillery, though
far from numerous, had been left at York for want of
horses to transport it. Besides the trained bands of the
country raised by Sir John Digby, the sheriff, he had not
gotten together above three hundred infantry. His cavalry
in which consisted his chief strength, exceeded not eight
hundred, and were very ill provided with arms. The forces
of the Parliament lay at Northampton, within a few days'
march of him, and consisted of above six thousand men, well
armed and well appointed. Had these troops advanced
upon him, they must soon have dissipated the small force
which he had assembled/ By pursuing htm in' his retreat,
they had so discredited his cause and discouraged his
adherents as to have forever prevented his collecting an .
army able to make head against them. But the Earl of
Essex, the parliamentary general, had not yet received an^
orders from his masters.* What rendered them so back- '
ward, after such precipitate steps as they had formerly taken,
* Clarendon, vol. iii pp. 1, 2.
344 HISTOBT OF ENGLAND.
is not easily explained. It is probable that in the ex-
treme distress of his party consisted the present safety of
the king. The Parliament hoped that the royalists, sensible
of their feeble condition, and convinced of their slender
resources, would disperse of themselves, and leave their
adversaries a victory, so much the more com])lete and secure
as it would be gained without the appearance of force and
without bloodshed. Perhaps, too, when it became neces-
sary to make the concluding step, and offer bai'efaced
violence to their sovereign, their scruples and apprehen-
sions, though not sufScient to overcome their resolutions,
were able to retard the execution of them.^
Sir Jacob Astley, whom the king had .appointed major-
general of his intended army, told him that he could not
give him assurance but he might be taken out of his bed if
the rebels should make a brisk attempt to that purpose.
All the king's attendants were full of well-grounded appre-
hensions. Some of the lords having desired that a message
might be sent to the Parliament with overtures to a treaty,
Charles, who well knew that an accommodation, in his ])res-
ent condition, meant nothing but a total submission, hastily
broke up the council, lest this proposal should be further
insisted on. But next day, the Earl of Southampton, whom
no one could suspect of base or timid sentiments, having
offered the same advice in council, it was hearkened to with
more coolness and deliberation. He urged that though such
a step would probably increase the insolence of the Parlia-
ment, this was so far from being an objection that such
dispositions must necessarily turn to -the advantage of the
royal cause ; that if they refused to treat, which was more
probable, the very sound of peace was so po])ular that
nothing could more disgust the nation than such haughty
severity ; that if they admitted of a treaty, their propo'snls,
considering their present situation, would be so exorbitant
as to ojien the eyes of their most partial .adherents, and turn
the general favor to the king's party ; and that, at worst,
time might be gained by this expedient, and a delay of the
imminent danger with which the king was at present
threatened.^
Charles, on assembling the council, had declared against
all advances towards an accommodation, and had said that,
having nothing now left him but his honor, this last jiosses-
sion lie was resolved steadily to preserve, and rather to
" Claremlou, vol. iii. p 18. Wliitlocke, p. 64. 20 Ruslnvorth, vol. vi. p. "(U
so Kusliworth, vol. vi. p. 166. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 119.
HISTOKV OF JSNGIATTD. 353
shoved their inclination to abolish monarchy ; they only
asked,- at present, the power of doing it. And having now,
in the eye of the law, been guilty of treason by levying war
against their sovereign, it is evident that their fears and
jealousies must, on that account, have multiplied extremely,
and have rendered their personal safety, which they inter-
wove with the safety of the nation, still more incompatible
with the authority of the monarch. Though the gentleness j
and lenity of the king's temper might have insured them
against schemes of future vengeance, they preferred, as is,
no doubt, natural, an independent security, accompanied,
too, with sovereign power to the station of subjects, and
that not entirely guarded from all apprehensions of danger.*^ ,
The conferences went no further than the first demand
on each side. The Parliament, finding that there was no
likelihood of coming tO/ any agreement, suddenly recalled
their commissioners.
A military enterprise, which they had concerted early in
the spring, was immediately undertaken. Reading, the gar-
rison of the king's which lay nearest to London, was esteemed
a jalace of considerable strength in that age, when the art of
attacking towns was not well understood in Europe, and
was totally unknown in England. The Earl of Essex sat
down before this place with an army of eighteen thousand
men, and carried on the siege by regular approaches. Sir
Ai'thur Aston, the governor, being wounded. Colonel Field-
ing succeeded to the command. In a little time the town
was found to be no longer in a condition of defence ; and
though the king approached, with an intention of obliging
Essex to raise the siege, the disposition of the pai'liamentary
army was so strong as rendered the design impracticable.
Fielding, therefore, was contented to yield the town, on
condition that he should bring off all the garrison with the
honors of war and deliver up deserters. This last article
was thought so ignominious and so prejudicial to the king's
interests that the governor was tried by a council of war,
and condemned to lose his life for consenting to it. His
sentence was afterwards remitted by the king.^^
Essex's army had been fully supplied with all necessaries
from London ; even many superfluities and luxuries were sent
them by the care of the zealous citizens ; yet the hardships
which they suffered from the siege during so early a season
s' See note [T] at the end of the volume.
32 BushwQrth, vol. vi. p. 265, etc. Clarendon, vol. iii. pp. 237, 238, etc.
Vol. IV.— 23
354 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
had weakened them to such a degree that they were no
longer fit for any new enterprise. And the two armies for
some time encamped in the neighborhood of each other with-
out attempting, on either side, any action of moment.
Besides the military operations between the principal
armies which lay in the centre of England, each county, each
town, each family almost, was divided within itself, and the
most violent convulsions shook the whole kingdom. Through-
out the winter continual efforts had everywhei-e been made
by each party to surmount its antagonist ; and the English,
roused from the lethargy of peace, with eager though unskil-
ful hands, employed against their fellow-citizens their long-
neglected weapons. The furious zeal for liberty and Pres-
byterian discipline, which had hitherto run uncontrclled
throughout the nation, now at last excited an equal ardor
for monarchy and episcopacy, when the intention of abolish-
ing these ancient modes of government was openly avowed
by the Parliament. Conventions ior neutrality, though in
sevei-al counties they had been entered into and confirmed
by the most solemn oaths, yet being voted illegal by the two
Houses, were immediately broken,''^ and the fire of discord
was spread into every quarter. The altercation of discourse,
the controversies of the pen, but, above all, the declamations
of the pulpit, indisposed the minds of men towards each
other and propagated the blind rage of party. ^■' Fierce,
however, and inflamed as were the dispositions of the
/English by a war both civil and religious, that great dc-
I stroyer of humanity, all the events of this period are less dis-
tinguished by atrocious deeds, either of treachery or cruelty,
than were ever any intestine discords which had so long a
continuance — a circumstance which will be found to reflect
great praise on the national character of that people now so
■unhappily roused to arms.
In the north. Lord Fairfax commanded for the Parlia-
ment, the Earl of Newcastle for the king. The latter noble-
man began those associations which were afterwards so much
practised in other parts of the kingdom. He united in a
league for the king the counties of Northumberland, Cum-
berland, Westmoreland, and the Bishopric, and engaged
some time after other counties in the same association.
I^inding that Fairfax, assisted by Hotham and the garrison
of Hull, was making progress in the southern parts of York-
shire, he advanced with a body of four thousand men, and
» Clarendon, vol. ill. pp. 137, 139. »' Dugdale, p, 95.
HIST0I4Y OF ENGLAND. 355
took possession of York. At T.adcaster he altacked the
forces of the Parliament and dislodged them, but his victory
was not decisive. In other rencounters he obtained some
inconsiderable advantages. But the chief benefit which
resulted from liis enterprises was tlie establishing of the
king's authority in all the northei-n ]3rovinces.
In another part of the kingdom, Lord Broke was killed
by a shot while he was taking possession of Lichfield for the
I'arliament.^'' After a short combat near Stafford between
the Earl of Northampton and Sir John Gell, tlie former, who
commanded the king's forces, was killed while he fought with
great valor; and his forces discouraged by his death, though
they had obtained the advantage in the action, retreated
into the town of Stafford."^
Sir William Waller began to distinguish himself among
the generals of the Parliament. Active and indefatigable
in his operations, rapid and enterjjrising, he was fitted by
his genius to the nature of the war, which, being managed
by raw troops, conducted by unexperienced commanders,
afforded success to every bold and sudden undertaking.
After taking Winchester and Chicester, he advanced towards
Gloucester, which was in a manner blockaded by Lord
Herbert, who had levied considerable forces in Wales for
the royal party.'' While he attacked the Welsh on one
side, a sally from Gloucester made impression on the other.
Herbert was defeated ; five hundred of his men killed on tlie
spot, a thousand taken prisoners, and he himself escaped
with some difficulty to Oxford. Hereford, esteemed a
strong town, defended by a considerable garrison, was sur-
rendered to Waller from the cowardice of Colonel Price,
the governor. Tewkesbury underwent the same fate.
Worcester refused him admittance ; and Waller without
placing any garrisons in his new conquests, retired to Glou-
cester, and he thence joined the army under the Earl of
Essex.''
But the most remarkable actions of valor during this
winter season were performed in the west. When Sir Kalph
33 He had tJiken possession of Lichfield, and was viewing from a window St.
Chad's CaUiedral, in which a P'^i'ty of the royti lists had fortitied themselves. Ho
was cased in complete armor, hut was shot through the eye hy a random hall.
Lord Broke was a zealous Puritan ; and had formerly said that he hoped to see
with his eyes the rain of all the cathedrals of England. It was a superstitious
remark of the royalists that he was killed on St. Chad's Day by a shot from St.
Chad's Cathedral, which pierced that very eye by which he hoped to see the ruin
of all cathedrals.— Dngdale, p. IIS. Clarendon, etc.
a" Whitlocke, p. 60. Kushworth, vol, vi. p. 152. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 151.
K Eush worth, vol. vi. pp. 02, 100. '» Eush worth, vol. vi. p. 263.
356 HISTORY OF ESTGLATSTD.
Hopton, with his small troop, retired into Cornwall before
tlie Earl of Bedford, that nobleman, despising so inconsider-
able a force, abandoned the pursuit, and committed the care
of suppressing the royal party to the sheriffs of the county.
But the affections of Cornwa"ll were much inclined to the
king's service. While Sir Richard BuUer and Sir Alex-
ander Carcw lay at Launceston, and employed themselves in
executing the Parliament's ordinance for the militia, a meet-
ing of the county was assembled at Truro, and, after Hopton
produced his commission from the Earl of Hertford, the
Idng's general, it was agreed to execute the laws, and to ex-
pel these invaders of the county. The train-bands were
accordingly levied, Launceston taken, and all Cornwall re-
duced to peace and to obedience under the king.
It had been usual for the royal party, on the commence-
ment of these disorders, to claim on all occasions the strict
execution of the laws, which they knew were favorable to
them ; and the Parliament, rather than have recourse to the
plea of necessity and avow the transgression of any statute,
had also been accustomed to warp the laws, and, by forced
constructions, to interpret them in their own favor.^' But
tliough the king was naturally the gainer by such a method
of conducting war, and it was by favor of law that the train-
bands were raised in Cornwall, it appeared that those
maxims were now jsrejudical to the royal party. These
troops could not legally, without their own consent, be car-
ried out of the county, and consequently it was impossible
to push into Devonshire the advantage which they had ob-
tained. The Cornish royalists, therefore, bethought them-
selves of levying a force which might be more serviceable.
Sir Bevil Granville, the most beloved man of that country.
Sir Ralph Hopton, Sir Nicliolas Slanning, Arundel, and
Trevannion, undertook at their own charges to raise an
army for the king, and their great interest in Cornwall soon
enabled them to effect their purpose. The Parliament,
alarmed at this appearance of the royalists, gave commission
to Ruthven, a Scotchman, governor of Plymouth, to march
with all the forces of Dorset, Somerset, and Devon, and
make an entire conquest of Cornwall. The Earl of Stam-
ford followed him at some distance with a considerable sup-
ply. Ruthven, having entered Cornwall by bridges thrown
over the_ Tamar, hastened to an action, lest Stamford
ehould join him and obtain the honor of that victory which
''■' Clarendon, vol. ill. p. 130.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 357
he looked for with assurance. The royalists, in like mariner,
were impatient to bring the affair to a decision before
Ruthven's army should receive so considerable a reinforce-
ment. The battle Avas fought on Bradoc Down, and the
king's forces, though inferior in number, gave a total defeat
to their enemies. Ruthven, with a few broken troops, fled
to Saltash ; and when that town was taken, he escaped with
some difficulty, and almost alone, into Plymouth. Stamford
retired, and distributed his forces into Plymouth and Exeter.
Notwithstanding these advantages, the extreme want,,
both of money and ammunition, under which the Cornish
royalists labored, obliged them to enter into a convention of
neutrality with the parliamentary party in Devonshire, and
this neutrality held all the winter season. In the spring it
was broken by the authority of the two Houses, and war
recommenced with great appearance of disadvantage to the
king's party. Stamford having assembled a strong body of
near seven thousand men, well supplied with money, pro-
visions, and ammunition, advanced upon the royalists, who
were not half his number, and were oppressed by every kind
of necessity. Despair, joined to the natural gallantry of
these troops, commanded by the prime gentry of the county,
made them resolve by one vigorous effort to overcome all
these advantages. Stamford being encamped on the top of
a high hill near Stratton, they attacked him in four divisions
at five in the morning, having lain all night under arms.
One division was commanded by Lord Mohun and Sir
Ralph Plopton, another by Sir Bevil Granville and Sir John
Berkeley, a third by Slanning and Trevannion, a fourth by
Basset and Godolphin. In this manner the action began ;
the king's forces pressing with vigor those four ways up the
hill, and their enemies obstinately defending themselves.
The fight continued with doubtful success, till word was
brought to the chief officers of the Cornish that their ammu-
nition was spent to less than four barrels of powder This
defect, which they concealed from the soldiers, they resolved
to supply by their valor. They agreed to advance without
firing till they should reach the top of the hill, and could be
on equal ground with the enemy. The courage of the
officers was so well seconded by the soldiers that the royal-
ists began on all sides to gain ground. Major-general
Childley, who commanded the parliamentary army (for
Stamford kept at a distance), failed not in his duty; and
when he saw his men recoil, he himself advanced with a
358 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
good Stand of pikes, and piercing into the thickest of the
enemy, was at last overpowered by numbers and taken
prisoner. His army, upon this disaster, gave ground apace ;
insomuch that the four parties of the royalists, growing
nearer and nearer as they ascended, at last met together
upon the plain at the top, where they embraced with great
joy, and signalized their victory with loud shouts and mutual
congratulations.*"
After this success the attention both of king and Parlia-
ment was turned towards the west, as to a very important
scene of action. The king sent thither the Marquis of Hert-
ford and Prince Maurice with a reinforcement of cavalry,
who, having joined the Cornish army, soon overran the
county of Devon, and, advancing into that of Somerset,
began to reduce it to obedience. On the other hand, the
Parliament having supplied Sir William Waller, in whom
they much trusted, with a complete army, despatched him
westward, in order to check the progress of the royalists.
After some skirmishes, the two armies met at Lansdown,
near Bath, and fought a pitched battle with great loss on
both sides, but without any decisive event.*^ The gallant
Granville was there killed, and Hopton, by the blowing-up
of some powder, was dangerously hurt. The royalists next
attempted to march eastwards and to join their forces to the
king's at Oxford, but Waller hung on their rear, and in-
fested their march till they, reached the Devizes. Rein-
forced by additional troops, which flocked to him from all
quarters, he so much surpassed the royalists in number that
they durst no longer continue their march, or expose them-
selves to the hazard of an action. It was resolved that
Hertford and Prince Maurice should proceed with the
cavalry, and having procured a reinforcement from the king,
should hasten back to the relief of their friends. Waller
was so confident of taking this body of infantry, now aban-
doned by the horse, that he wrote to the Parliament that
their work was done, and that by the next post he would in-
form them of the number and quality of their prisoners.
But the king, even before Hertford's arrival, hearing of the
great difficulties to which his western army was reduced,
had prepared a considerable body of cavalry, which he im-
mediately despatched to their succor under the command of
Lord Wilmot. Waller drew uji on Roundway Down, about
*" Rushworth, vol. vi. pp, 207, 27.3. Clarendon, vol. iii. pp. 269, 279.
^1 Rusliwortb, vol. vi. p. 284. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 2b2.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 359
two miles from the Devizes, and, advancing witli liis cavalry
to fight Wilmot and prevent his conjunction with the Corn-
ish infantry, was received with equal valor by the royalists.
After a sharp action, he was totally routed, and, flying witli a
few horse, escaped to Bristol. Wilmot, seizing the enemy's -
cannon, and having joined his friends whom he came to re-
lieve, attacked Waller's infantry with redoubled courage,
drove them off the field, and routed and disisersed the
whole army.^^
This important victory, following so quick after many
other successes, struck great dismay into the Parliament,
and gave an alarm to their principal army, commanded by
Essex. Waller exclaimed loudly against tliat general for
allowing Wilmot to pass him, and proceed without any in-
terrviption to the succor of the distressed infantry at the
Devizes. But Essex, finding that his army fell continually
to decay after the siege of Reading, was resolved to remain
upon the defensive, and the weakness of the king and his
want of all military stores had also restrained the activity
of the royal army. No action had happened in that part of
England except one skirmish, which of itself was of no great
consequence, and was rendered memorable by the death
alone of the famous Hambden.
Colonel Urrey, a Scotsman, who served in the parlia-
mentary army, having received some disgust, came to Ox-
ford and offered his services to the king. In order to prove
the sincerity of his conversion, he informed Prince Rupert
of the loose disposition of the enemy's quarters, and ex-
horted him to form some attempt upon them. The jjrince,
who was entirely fitted for that kind of service, falling sud-
denly upon the dispersed bodies of Essex's army, routed
two i-egiments of cavalry and one of infantry, and carried
his ravages within two miles of the general's quarters.
The alarm being given, every one mounted on horseback in
order to j)ursue the prince, to recover the prisoners, and to
repair the disgrace which the army had sustained. Among
the rest, Hambden, who had a regiment of infantry that lay
at a distance, joined the hoi'se as a volunteer, and, overtak-
ing the royalists on Chalgrave field, entered into the thick-
est of the battle. By the bravery and activity of Rupert,
the king's troops were brought off, and a great booty, to-
gether with two hundred prisoners, was conveyed to Ox-
ford, But what most pleased the royalists was the cxpec-
« Kusliwortli, vol. vi. p. 285. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 291.
I
360 HISTORY OF BXGLAND;
tation that some disaster had happened to Hambden, their
capital and much-dreaded enemy. One of the prisoners
taken in the action said that he was confident Mr. Hamb-
den was hurt, for he saw him, contrary to his usual custom,
ride off the field before the action was finished, his head
hanging down, and his hands leaning upon his horse's neck.
Next day the news arrived that he was shot in the shoulder
with a brace of bullets, and the bone broken. Some days
after, he died, in exquisite pain, of his wound ; nor could
his whole party, had their army met with a total overthrow,
have been thrown into greater consternation. The king
himself so highly valued him that, either from generosity or
policy, he intended to have sent him his own surgeon to as-
sist at his cure.^'
Many were the virtues and talents of this eminent per-
sonage ; and his valor during the war had shone out with a
lustre equal to that of the other accomplishments by which
he had ever been distinguished. Affability in conversa^
tion ; temper, art, and eloquence in debate ; penetration and
discernment in counsel ; industry, vigilance, and enterprise
in action — all these praises are unanimously ascribed to him
by historians of the most opposite parties. His virtues, too,
and integrity, in all the duties of private life, are allowed
to have been beyond exception : we must only be cautious,
notwithstanding his generous zeal for liberty, not hastily to
ascribe to him the praises of a good citizen. Through all
the horrors of civil war, he sought the abolition of monarchy
and subversion of the constitution — an end which, had it
been attainable by peaceful measures, ought carefully to
have been avoided by every lover of his country. But
whether, in the pursuit of this violent enterprise, he was ac-
tuated by private ambition, or by honest prejudices derived
from the former exorbitant powers of royalty, it belongs
not to an historian of this age, scarcely even to an intimate
friend, positively to determine.^*
Essex, discouraged by this event, dismayed by the total
rout of Waller, was further informed that" the queen, who
landed in Burlington Bay, had arrived at Oxford, and had
brought from the north a reinforcement of three thousand
foot and fifteen hundred horse. Dislodging from Thame
and Aylesbury, where he had hitherto lain, he thouj^lit
proper to retreat nearer to London ; and he showed toliis
« Warwick's Memoirs, p. 241. Clarendon, vol. i. p. 264.
** See note [Z] at the end of the volume.
HISTOEY or ENGLAND. 361
V
friends his broken and disheartened forces, which a few
months before he had led into the field in so flourishing a
condition. The king, freed from this enemy, sent his army
westward under Prince Rupert, and, by their conjunction
with the Cornish troops, a formidable force, for numbers as
well as reputation and valor, was composed. That an en-
terprise correspondent to men's expectations might be un-
dertaken, the prince resolved to lay siege to Bristol, the
second town for riches and greatness in the kingdom. Na-
thaniel Fiennes, son of Lord Say, he himself, as well as his
father, a great parliamentary leader, was governor, and
commanded a garrison of two thousand five hundred foot,
and two regiments — one of horse, another of dragoons.
The fortifications not being complete or regular, it was re-
solved by Prince Rupert to storm the city ; and next morn-
ing, with little other provisions suitable to such a work be-
sides the courage of the troops, the assault began. The
Cornish, in three divisions, attacked the west side, with a
resolution which nothing could control ; but though the mid-
dle division had already mounted the wall, so great was the
disadvantage of the ground, and so brave the defence of the
garrison, that in the end the assailants were repulsed with
a considerable loss both of officers and soldiers. On the
prince's side the assault was conducted with equal courage,
and almost with equal loss, but with better success. One
party, led by Lord Grandison, was indeed beaten off, and
the commander himself mortally wounded. Another, con-
ducted by Colonel Bellasis, met with a like fate ; but Wash-
ington, with a less party, finding a place in the curtain
weaker than the rest broke in, and quickly made room for
the horse to follow. By this irruption, however, nothing
but the suburbs was yet gained. The entrance into the
town was still more difficult ; and by the loss already sus-
tained, as well as by the prospect of further danger, every
one was extremely discouraged ; when, to the great joy of
the army, the city beat a pariey. The garrison was allowed
to march out with their arms and baggage, leaving their can-
non, ammunition, and colors. Forthis instance of coward-
ice, Fiennes was afterwards tried by a court-martial and
condemned to lose his head ; but the sentence was remit-
ted by the general.^*
Great complaints were made of violences exercised on
the garrison contrary to the capitulation. An ajjology was
*6 Kiisliworth, vol. Ti. p. 284. Clarendon, vol. iii. pp. 293, 294, etc.
362 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
made by the royalists, as if these were a retaliation for
some violence committed on their friends at the surrender
of Reading. And under pretence of like retaliations, but
really from the extreme animosity of the parties, were such
irregularities continued during the whole course of the
war.""^
The loss sustained by the royalists in the assault of
Bristol was considerable. Five hundred excellent soldiers
perished. Among those of condition were Grandison, Slan-
ning, Trevannion, and Moyle ; Bellasis, Ashley, and Sir John
Owen were wounded. Yet was the success, upon the whole,
so considerable as mightily raised the courage of the one
party and depressed that of the other. The Icing, to show
that he was not intoxicated with good fortune, nor aspired
to a total victory over the Parliament, published a mani-
festo, in which he renewed the protestation formerly taken,
with great solemnity, at the head of his army, and expressed
his firm intention of making peace upon the re-establish-
ment of the constitution. Having joined the camp at Bris-
tol and sent Prince Maurice with a detachment into Dev-
onshire, he deliberated how to employ the remaining forces
in an enterprise of moment. Some proposed, and seem-
ingly with reason, to march directly to London, where
everything was in confusion, where the army of the Par-
liament was baffled, weakened, and dismayed, and where, it
was hoped, either by an insurrection of the citizens, by vic-
tory, or by treaty, a speedy end might be put to the civil
disorders. But this undertaking, by reason of the great
number and force of the London militia, was thought by
many to be attended with considei'able difficulties. Grlou-
cester, lying within twenty miles, presented an easier yet a
very important conquest. It was the only remaining gar-
rison possessed by the Pai-lianient in those parts. Could
that city be reduced, the king held the whole course of the
Severn under his command ; the rich and malcontent coun-
ties of the west, having lost all protection from their
friends, might be forced to pay high contributions as an
atonement for their disaffection ; an open communication
could be preserved between Wales and these new con-
quests ; and half of the kingdom, being entirely freed from
the enemy, and thus united into one firm body, might be
employed in re-establishing the king's authority throuo-hout
the remainder. Those were the reasons for embracing
'5 Clarendon, nbi supra, p. 297.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 363
that resolution, fatal as it was ever esteemed to the royal
party.*'
The Governor of Gloucester was one Massey, a soldier
of fortune, who, before he engaged with the Parliament,
had offered his service to the king ; and as he was free from
the fumes of enthusiasm by which most of the officers on
that side were intoxicated, he would lend an ear, it was
presumed, to proposals for accommodation ; but Massey
was resolute to preserve an entire fidelity to his masters,
and, though no enthusiast himself, he well know how to em-
ploy to advantage that enthusiastic spirit so prevalent in
his city and garrison. The summons to surrender allowed
two hours for an answer ; but before that time expired there
appeared before the king two citizens with lean, pale, sharp,
and dismal visages : faces so strange and uncouth, according
to Lord Clarendon ; figures so habited and accoutred, as at
once moved the most severe countenance to mirth and the
most cheerful heart to sadness. It seemed impossible that
such messengers could bring less than a defiance. The
men, without any circumstance of duty or good manners,
in a pert, shrill, undismayed accent, said that they brought
an answer from the godly city of Gloucester ; and extremely
ready were they, according to the historian, to give insolent
and seditious replies to any question, as if their business
were chiefly, by provoking the king, to make him violate
his own safe-conduct. The answer from the city was in
these words : " We, the inhabitants, magistrates, officers,
and soldiers within the garrison of Gloucester, unto his maj-
esty's gracious message return this humble answer : That
we do keep this city, according to our oaths and allegiance,
.to and for the use of his majesty and his royal posterity;
and do accordingly conceive ourselves wholly bound to obey
the commands of his majesty, signified by both Houses of
Parliament ; and are resolved, by God's help, to keep this
city accordingly." *^ After • these preliminaries the siege
was resolutely undertaken by the army, and as resolutely
sustained by the citizens and garrison.
When intelligence of the siege of Gloucester arrived in ^
London, the consternation among the inhabitants was as ',
great as if the enemy were already at their gates. The -^
rapid progress of the royalists threatened the Parliament
with immediate subjection; the factions and discontents
*' Wliitlooke, p. 69. May, bk. iii. p. 91.
« Eusliwoith, vol. vi. p. 287. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 315. May, bk. iii. p.. 9F.
364 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
among themselves ia the city, and throughout the neighbor-
ing counties, prognosticated some dangerous division or in-
surrection. Those parliamentary leaders, it must be owned,
who had introduced such mighty innovations into the Eng-
lish constitution, and who had projected so much greater,
had not engaged in an enterprise which exceeded their
courage or capacity. Great vigor from the beginning, as
well as wisdom, they had displayed in all their counsels;
and a furious, lieadstrong body, broken loose from the re-
straint of law, had hitherto been retained in subjection
vmder their authority, and firmly united by zeal and passion
as by the most legal and established government. A small
committee on whom the two Houses devolved their power
had directed all their military operations, and had preserved
a secrecy in deliberation and a promptitude in execution
beyond what the king, notwithstanding the advantages jjos-
sessed by a single leader, had ever been able to attain.
Sensible that no jealousy was by their partisans entertained
against them, they had on all occasions exerted an au-
thority much more despotic than the royalists, even during
the pressing exigencies of war, could with patience enduie
^ in their sovereign. Whoever incurred their displeasure or
was exposed to their suspicions was committed to prison
and prosecuted under the notion of delinquency. After all
[the old jails were full, many new ones were erected; and
j even the ships were crowded with the royalists, both gentry
I and clergy, who languished below decks, and perished in
"those unhealthy confinements. They imposed taxes, the
heaviest and of the most unusual nature, by an ordinance of
the two Houses ; they voted a commission for sequestra-
tions ; and they seized, wherever they had power, the rev-
enues of all the king's party ; ^^ and, knowing that them-
selves and all their adherents were, by resisting the prince,
exposed to the penalties of law, they resolved, by a severe
administration, to overcome these terrors, and to retain the
people in obedience by penalties of a more immediate exe-
cution. In the beginning of this summer, a combination
formed against them in London had obliged them to exert
the plenitude of their authority.
Edmund "Waller, the first refiner of English versifica-
tion, was a member of the lower House, a man of consider-
" The Miig afterwards copied from this example ; but as the far greater part
ot the nobility and landed gentry were his friends, he reaped much less prolit
from his measure.
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 365
able fortune, and not more distinguished by his poetical
genius than by his parliamentary talents, and by the polite-
ness and elegance of his manners. As full of keen satire
and invective in his eloquence as of tenderness and pane-
gyric in his poetry, he caught the attention of his hearers,
and exerted the utmost boldness in blaming those violent
counsels by which the Commons were governed. Finding
all opposition within doors to be fruitless, he endeavored to )
form a party without which might oblige the Parliament to
accept of reasonable conditions and restore peace to the —
nation. The charms of his conversation, joined to his char-
acter of courage and integrity, had procured him the entire
confidence of Northumberland, Conway, and every eminent
person of either sex who resided in London. They opened
their breasts to him without reserve, and expressed their
disapprobation of the furious measures pursued by the Com-
mons, and their wishes that some expedient could be found
for stopping so impetuous a career. Tomkins, Waller's
brother-in-law, and Chaloner, the intimate friend of Tom-
kins, had entertained like sentiments ; and as the conneC'
tions of these two gentlemen lay chiefly in the city, they
informed Waller that the same abhorrence of war prevailed
there among all men of reason and moderation. Upon re-
flection, it seemed not impracticable that a combination
might be formed between the lords and citizens, and by
mutual concert the illegal taxes be refused, which the Par-
liament, without the royal assent, imposed on the people.
While this affair was in agitation, and lists were making of
such as they conceived to be well affected to their design, a
servant of Tomkins, who had overheard their discourse, im-
mediately carried intelligence to Pym; Waller, Tomkins,
and Chaloner were seized and tried by a court-martial.^"
They were all three condemned, and the two latter executed
on gibbets erected before their own doors. A covenant, as
a test, was taken ^^ by the Lords and Commons and im-
posed on their army, and on all who lived within their
quarters. Besides resolving to amend and reform their
lives, the covenanters there vow that they will never lay
down their arms so long as the Papists, now in open war
against the Parliament, shall, by force of arms, be protected
from justice ; they express their abhorrence of the late con-
spiracy ; and they promise to assist to the utmost the forces
raised by both Houses against the forces levied by the king.^''
» Eushworth, vol. vi. p. 32R. Clarendon, vol. iii. pp. 249, 250, etc.
'- Jaue 6. ''' Eushworth, vol. vi. p, 325. Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 255.
366 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
Waller, as soon as imprisoned, s ensible of the great dan-
ger into -which he had fallen, -was so seized with the dread
of death that all his former spirit deserted him, and he con-
fessed whatever he knew, without sparing his most intimate
friends, without regard to the confidence reposed in him,
without distinguishing between the negligence of familiar
conversation and the schemes of a regular conspiracy.
With the most profound dissimulation, he counterfeited
such remorse of conscience that his execution was put off,
out of mere Christian compassion, till ho might recover the
use of his understanding. He invited visits from the ruling
clergy of all sects ; and while he expressed his own peni-
tence, he received their devout exhortations with humility
and reverence, as conveying clearer conviction and infor-
mation than in his life he had ever before attained. Pres-
ents too, of which, as well as of ilattery, these holy men
were not insensible, were distributed among them as a
small retribution for their prayers and ghostly counsel. And
by all these artifices, more than from any regard to the
beauty of liis genius — of which, during that time of furious
cant and faction, small account would be made — he pre-
vailed so far as to have his life spared, and a fine of ten
thousand pounds accepted m lieu of it.°^
The severity exercised against the conspiracy, or rather
project, of Waller increased the authority of Parliament,
and seemed to insure them against like attempts for the
future. But by the progress of the king's arras, the defeat
of Sir William Waller, the taking of Bristol, the siege of
Gloucester, a cry for peace was lenewed, and with more
violence than ever. Crowds of women, with a petition for
that purpose, Hocked about the House, and were so clam-
orous and importunate that orders were given for dispersing
them ; and some of the females were killed in the fray."
Bedford, Holland, and Conway had deserted the Parliament
and had gone to Oxford ; Clare and Lovelace had followed
them." Northumberland had retired to his country-seat ;
Essex himself showed extreme dissatisfaction, and exhorted
the Parliament to make peace.'''^ The upper House sent
down terms of accommodation more moderate than had
hitherto been insisted on. It even passed, by a majority
among the Commons, that these proposals should be trans-
"3 WhiUocke, p. 66. Kushwortb, vol vi. p. 330. Clareudon, vol iii dd 253
264, etc. ' '
M Kusliwortli, vol vi. p. 357. »i> WhitlocUe, p,67. ™ Kushwortb, vol vi p 290
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 367
mitted to the king. The zealots took the alarm. A petition
against peace was framed in the city, and presented by
Pennington, the factious mayor. Multitudes attended him,
and renewed all the former menaces against the moderate
party " The puljjits thundered, and rumors were spread
of twenty thousand Irish who had landed, and were to cut
the throat of every Protestant.'^ The majority was again
turned to the other side ; and, all thoughts of pacification
being dropped, every preparation was made for resistance,
and for the immediate relief of Gloucester, on which the
Parliament was sensible all their hopes of success in the war
did so much depend.
Massey, resolute to make a vigorous defence, and having
under his command a city and garrison ambitious of the
crown of martyrdom, had hitherto maintained the siege
■with courage and abilities, and had much retarded the ad-
vances of the king's army. By continual sallies he infested
them in their trenches, and gained sudden advantages over
them ; by disputing, every inch of ground, he repressed the
vigor and alacrity of their courage, elated by former suc-
cesses. His garrison, however, was reduced to the last ex-
tremity, and he failed not, from time to time, to inform the
Parliament that, unless speedily relieved, he should be ne-
cessitated, from the extreme want of provisions and ammu-
nition, to open his gates to the enemy. ■
The Parliament, in order to repair their broken con-
,,jdition and put themselves in "a posture of "defeilce, now
exerted to the utmost their power and authority. They
voted that an army should be levied under Sir William
Waller, whom, notwithstanding his misfortunes, they loaded
with extraordinary caresses. Having associated in their
cause the counties of Hertford, Essex, Cambridge, Norfolk,
Suffolk, Lincoln, and Huntingdon, they gave the Earl of
Manchester a commission to be general of the association,
and appointed an army to be levied under his command.
But, above all, they were intent that Essex's army, on which
their whole fortune depended, should be put in a condition
of marching against the king. They excited afresh their
preachers to furious declamations against the royal cause.
They even employed the exjsedient of pressing, though
abolished by a late law, for which they had strenuously
contended;^" and they engaged the city to send four regi-
«' Eushworai, vol. vi. p. 356.
M Clarendon, vol. iii. p. .320. Rushwortli, vol. vi. p. 588.
5» Kusliwortb, vol. vi. p. 292.
368 HISTORY OB' ENGLAND.
ments of its militia to the relief of Gloucester. All shops,
meanwhile, were ordered to be shut; and every man ex-
pected, with the utmost anxiety, the event of that important
enterprise.'^"
Essex, carrying with him a well-appointed array of
fourteen thousand men, took the road of Bedford nnd Lei- ■
cester ; and though inferior in cavalry, yet by the mere
force of conduct and discipline he jjassed over those ojjen
champaign countries, and defended himself from the ene-
my's horsC; who had advanced to meet him, and who in-
fested him during his whole march. As he approached to
Gloucester, the king was obliged to raise the siege, and open
the way for Essex to enter that city. The necessities of the
garrison were extreme. One barrel of powder was their
whole stock of ammunition remaining, and their other pjo-
visions were in the same proportion. Essex had brought
with him military stores, and the neighboring country
abundantly supplied him with victuals of every kind. The
inhabitants had carefully concealed all provisions from the
king's army, and, pretending to be quite exhausted, had
reserved their stores for that cause which they so much fav-
ored.''^
The chief diificulty still remained. Essex dreaded a
battle with the king's army, on account of its great supe-
riority in cavalry ; and he resolved to return, if possible,
without running that hazard. He lay five days at Tewkes-
bury, which was his first stage after leaving Gloucester, and
he feigned, by some preparations, to point towards Wor-
cester. By a forced march during the night, he reached
Cirencester, and obtained the double advantage of passing
unmolested an open country and of surprising a convoy of
provisions which lay in that town.''" Without delay he pro-
ceeded towards London ; but when he reached Newbury,
he was surprised to find that the king, by hasty marches, had
arrived before him and was already possessed of the place.
An action was now unavoidable; and Essex prepared
for it with presence of mind, and not without militarv eon-
duct. On both sides the battle wa,s fought with desperate
valor and a steady bravery. Essex's horse were several
times broken by the king's, but his infantry maintained
themselves in firm array, and, besides giving a continued
fire, they presented an invincible rampart of pikes acrainst
o" Rushworth, vol. vi. p. 292. m Clarendon, vol. iii. p 344
«2 Busliwortli, vol. vi. p. 291i.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 369
the furious shock of Prince Rupert and those gallant troops
of gentry of which the royal cavalry was chiefly composed.
The militia of London especially, though utterly unac-
quainted with action, though drawn but a few days before
from their ordinary occupations, yet, having learned all
military exercises, and being animated with unconquerable
zeal for the cause in which they were engaged, equalled, on
this occasion, what could be exjjected from the most veteran
forces. While the armies were engaged with the utmost
■ ardor, night put an end to the action, and left the victory
undecided. Next morning Essex proceeded on his march,
and, though his rear was once put in some disorder by an
incursion of the king's horse, he reached London in safety,
and received applause for his conduct and success in the
whole enterprise. The king followed him on his march,
and, having taken possession of Reading after the earl left
it, he there established a garrison, and straitened by that
means London and the quarters of the enemy .''^
In the battle of Newbury, on the j^art of the king, besides
the Earls of Sunderland and Carnarvon, two noblemen of
promising hopes, was unfortunately slain, to the regret of
every lover of ingenuity and virtue throughout the kingdom,
Lucius Gary, Viscount Falkland, secretary of state. Before
assembling the present Parliament, this man, devoted to the
pursuits of learning and to the society of all the polite and
elegant, had enjoyed himself in every pleasure which a fine
genius, a generous disposition, and an opulent fortune could
afford. Called into public life, he stood foremost in all at-
tacks on the high prerogatives of the crown, and displayed
that masculine eloquence and undaunted love of liberty
which, from his intimate acquaintance with the sublime
spirits of antiquity, he had greedily imbibed. When civil
convulsions proceeded to extremities, and it became requi-
site for him to choose his side, he tempered the ardor of his
zeal, and embraced the defence of those limited powers
which remained to monarchy, and which he deemed neces-
sary for the support of the English constitution. Still
anxious, however, for his country, he seems to have dreaded
the too prosperous success of his own party as much as of
the enemy; and among his intimate f.'iends, often, after a
deep silence and frequent sighs, he would, with a sad accent,
reiterate the word " Peace." In excuse for the too free ex-
posing of his person, which seemed unsuitable in a secretary
"' Kushworth, TOl. vi. p. 293. Clarendon, vol. iii p. 347.
Vol. IV.— 24
370 HISTORY or ENGLAND.
of state, he alleged that it became hira to be more active
than other men in all hazardous enterprises, lest his impa-
tience for peace might bear the imputation of cowardice or
pusillanimity. From the commencement of the war, his
natural cheerfulness and vivacity became clouded, and even
his usual attention to dress, required by his birth and
station, gave way to a negligence which was easily observ-
able. On the morning of the battle in which he fell, he
had shown some care of adorning his person, and gave for a
reason that the enemy should not find his body in any
slovenly, indecent situation. " I am weary," subjoined he,
" of the times, and foresee much misery to my country ; but
believp that I shall be out of it ere night " ''■' This excellent
person was but thirty-four years of age when a period was
thus put to his life.
The loss sustained on both sides in the battle of New-
bury, and the advanced season, obliged the armies to retire
into winter-qu.arters.
In the north, during the summer, the great interest and
popularity of the Earl, now created Marquis, of Newcastle,
had raised a considerable force for the king, and great
hopes of success were entertained from that quarter.
There appeared, however, in opposition to him two men, on
whom the event of the war finally depended, and who began
about this time to be remarked for their valor and military
conduct. These were Sir Thomas Fairfax, son of the lord
of that name, and Oliver Cromwell. The former gained a
considerable advantage at Wakefield "^ over a detachment
of royalists, and took General Goring prisoner; the latter
obtained a victory at Gainsborough™ over a party com-
manded by the gallant Cavendish, who perished in the
action. But both these defeats of the royalists were more
than sufliciently compensated by the total rout of Lord Fair-
fax at Atherton Moor," and the dispersion of his army.
After this victory, Newcastle, with an army of fifteen
thousand men, sat down before Hull. Ilotham was no
longer governor of this place. That gentleman and his son,
partly from a jealousy entertained of Lord Fairfax, partly
repenting of their engagements against the king, had entered
into a correspondence with Newcastle, and had expressed
an intention of delivering Hull into his hands. But their
conspiracy being detected, they were arrested and sent
k o» Whitlooke, p. 70. Clarendon, vol. iii. pp. 350, 351, etc.
» May 21. <^ July 31. 67 juae 30.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 371
prisoners to London, where, without any regard to their
former services, they fell, both of them, victims to the
severity of the Parliament."^
Newcastle, having carried on the attack of Hull for some
time, was beaten off by a sally of the garrison,^' and suffered
so much that he thought proper to raise the siege. About
the same time, Manchester, who advanced from the eastern
associated counties, having joined Cromwell and young
Fairfax, obtained a considerable victory over the royalists
at Horncastle, where the two oiBcers last mentioned gained
renown by their conduct and gallantry. And though for-
tune had thus balanced her favors, the king's party still re-
mained much superior in those parts of England ; and had
it not been for the garrison at Hull, which kept Yorkshire
in awe, a conjunction of the northern forces with the army
in the south might have been made, and had probably en-
abled the king, instead of entering on the unfortunate, per-
haps imprudent, enterprise of Gloucester, to march directly
to London and put an end to the war.'"
While the military enterprises were carried on with
vigor in England, and the event became every day more
doubtful, both parties cast their eye towards the neighbor-
ing kingdoms, and sought assistance for the finishing of that
enterprise in which their own forces experienced such
furious opposition. The Parliament had recourse to Scot-
land ; the king, to Ireland.
When the Scottish Covenanters obtained that end for
which they so earnestly contended — the establishment of
Presbyterian discipline in their own country — they were
not satisfied, but indulged still an ardent passion for propa-
gating by all methods that mode of religion in the neighbor-
ing kingdoms. Having flattered themselves, in the fervor
of their zeal, that, by supernatural assistances, they should
be enabled to carry their triumphant covenant to the gates
of Rome itself, it behooved them first to render it prevalent
in England, which already showed so great a disposition to
receive it. Even in the articles of pacification, they ex-
pressed a desire of uniformity in worshii^ with England ;
and the king, employing general expressions, had approved
of' this inclination as pious and laudable. No sooner was
there an appearance of a rupture than the English Parlia-
ment, in order to allure that nation into a cJose confederacy,
08 Eushworth, vol. vi. p. 275. «» October 12.
'» Warwick, p. 261. Walker, p. 278.
372 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
openly declared their wishes of ecclesiastical reformation,
and of imitating the example of their northern brethren."
When war was actually commenced, the same artifices were
used ; and the Soots beheld, with the utmost impatience, a
scene of action of which they could not deem themselves in-
different spectators. Should the king, they said, be able by
force of arms to prevail over the Parliament of England,
and re-establish his authority in that powerful kingdom, he
will undoubtedly retract all those concessions which, with so
many circumstances of violence and indignity, the Scots
have extorted from him. Besides a sense of his own
interest, and a regard to royal power, which has been
entirely annihilated in this country, his very passion for prel-
acy and for religious ceremonies must lead him to invade a
Church which he has ever been taught to regard as anti-
christian and unlawful. Let us but consider who the per-
sons are that compose the factions now so furiously engaged
in arms. Does not the Parliament consist of those very
men who have ever opposed all war with Scotland, who
have punished the authors of our oppressions, who have
obtained us the redress of every grievance, and who, with
many honorable expressions, have conferred on us an
ample reward for our brotherly assistance? And is not the
court full of Papists, prelates, malignants — all of them
zealous enemies to our religious model, and resolute to
sacrifice their lives for their idolatrous establishments?
Not to mention our own necessary security, can we better
express our gratitude to Heaven for that piire light with
which we are, above all nations, so eminently distinguished
than by conveying the same divine knowledge to our un-
happy neighbors, who are wading through a sea of blood
in order to attain it ? These were, in Scotland, the topics
of every conversation. With these doctrines the pulpits
echoed; and the famous curse of Meroz, that curse so
solemnly denounced and reiterated against neutrality and
moderation, resounded from all quarters.'^
The Parliament of England had ever invited the Scots,
froin the commencement of the civil dissensions, to inter-
pose their mediation, which, they knew, would be so little
favorable to the king ; and the king, for that very reason,
had ever endeavored, with the least offensive expressions, to
" Eushworth, vol. vi. p. 390. <;iarendon, vol. iii. p. 68.
« "Curse ye Mei-oz, said the angel of the hord, curse ye bitterly the inhab-
itants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the heln of the
Lord against the mighty."— Judges V. 23,
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 373
decline it.'^ Early this spring, the Earl of Loudon, the
chancellor, with other commissioners, and attended by-
Henderson, a popular and intriguing preacher, was sent to
the king at Oxford, and renewed the offer of mediation ;
but with the same success as before. The commissioners
were also empowered to press the king on the article of
religion, and to recommend to him the Scottish model of
ecclesiastical worship and discipline. This was touching
Charles in a very tender point ; his honor, his conscience, as
well as his interest, he believed to be intimately concerned
in supporting prelacy and the liturgy.'* He begged the
commissioners, therefore, to remain satisfied with the con-
cessions which he had made to Scotland ; and having
modelled their own Church according to their own prin-
ciples, to leave their neighbors in the like liberty, and not
to intermeddle with affairs of which they could not be sup-
posed competent judges.'^
The divines of Oxford, secure, as they imagined, of a
victory, by means of their authorities from Church history,
their quotations from the fathers, and their spiritual argu-
ments, desired a conference with Henderson, and undertook,
by dint of reasoning, to convert that great apostle of the "
north ; but Henderson, who had ever regarded as impious
the least doubt with regard to his own principles, and
who knew of a much better way to reduce opponents than
by employing any theological topics, absolutely refused all
disputation or controversy. The English divines went away
full of admiration at the blind assurance and bigoted preju-
dices of the man ; he, on his part, was moved with equal
wonder at their obstinate attachment to such palpable errors
and delusions.
By the concessions which the king had granted to Scot?
land, it became necessary for him to summon a Parliament
once in three years ; and in June of the subsequent year
was fixed the period for the meeting of that assembly, Be,
fore that time elapsed, Charles flattered himself that ho7
should be able, by some decisive advantage, to reduce the [
English Parliament to a reasonable submission, and might i
then expect, with security, the meeting of a Scottish Parlia- )
ment. Though earnestly solicited by Loudon to summon
presently that great council of the nation, he absolutely re-
fused to give authority to men who had already excited such
'S Eushworth, vol. vi. p. 398.
» See note [AA] at tlie end of tjie volume. '^ Eushworth, vol. vi. p. 462.
374 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
dangerous commotions, and who showed still the same dis-
position to resist and invade his authority. The commis-
sioners, therefore, not being able to prevail in any of their
demands, desired the king's passport for London, where they
purposed to confer with the English Parliament ; " and
being likewise denied this request, they returned with ex-
treme dissatisfaction to Edinburgh.
The office of conservators of the peace was newly erected
in Scotland, in order to maintain the confederacy between
the two kingdoms; and these, instigated by the clergy, were
resolved, since they could not obtain the king's consent, to
summon, in his name, but by their own authority, a conven-
tion of states, and to bereave their sovereign of this article,
the only one which remained of his prerogative. Under
color of providing for national peace, endangered by the
neighborhood of English armies, was a contention called"
— an assembly which, though it meets with less solemnity,
has the same authority as a parliament in raising money and
levying forces. Hamilton, and his brother the Earl of Lan-
eric, who had been sent into Scotland in order to oppose
these measures, wanted either authority or sincerity, and
passively yielded to the torrent. The general assembly of
the Church met at the same time with the convention, and,
exercising an authority almost absolute over the whole civil
power, made every political consideration yield to their
theological zeal and prejudices.
The English Parliament was at that time fallen into
great distress by the progress of the royal arms ; and they
gladly sent to Edinburgh commissioners, with ample powers,
to treat of a nearer union and confederacy with the Scottish
nation. The persons employed were the Earl of Rutland,
Sir William Armyne, Sir Henry Vane the younger, Thomas
Hatcher, and Henry Darley, attended by Marshal and Nye,
two clergymen of signal authority.'* In this negotiation the
man chiefly trusted was Vane, who, in eloquence, address, ca-
pacity, as well as in art and dissimulation, was not surpassed
by any one, even during that age so famous for active talent.
By his persuasion was framed at Edinburgh that solbmk
LEAGUE AND COVENANT which effaced all former protesta-
tions and vows taken in both kingdoms, and long maintained
its credit and authority. In this covenant the subscribers,
besides engaging mutually to defend each other against all
'« Eushwortli, vol. vi . p. 40(1. 77 22d of June
" WUtlocke, p. 73. Eualiworth, vol. vi. p. 466. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 300!
HISTORY 01" ENGLAND. 375
opponents, bound themselves to endeavor, without respect
of persons, the extirpation of popery and prelacy, supersti-
tion, heresy, schism, and profaneness; to maintain the rights
and privileges of parliaments, together with the liing's au-
thority ; and to discover and bring to justice all incendiaries
and malignants.'^
The subscribers of the covenant vowed also to preserve
tlie reformed religion established in the Church of Scotland ;
but, by the artifice of Vane, no declaration more explicit
was made with regard to England and Ireland than that
these kingdoms should be reformed, according to the Word
of God and the example of the purest churches. The Scot-
tish zealots, when prelacy was abjured, deemed this expres-
sion quite free from ambiguity, and regarded their own
model as the only one which corresponded, in any degree,
to such a description ; but that able politician had other
views, and while he employed liis great talents in over-
reaching the Presbyterians and secretly laughed at their
smiplicity, he had blindly devoted himself to the mainten-
ance of systems still more absurd and more dangerous.
In the English Parliament there remained some members,
who, though they had been induced, either by private am-
bition or by zeal for civil liberty, to concur with the major-
ity, still retained an attachment to the hierarchy and to the
ancient modes of worship. But, in the present danger which
threatened their cause, all scruples were laid aside ; and the
covenant, by whose means alone they could expect to obtain
so considerable a reinforcement as the accession of the Scot-
tish nation, was received without opposition. The Parlia-
ment, therefore, having first subscribed it themselves, or-
dered it to be received by all who lived under their au-
thority.
Great were the rejoicings among the Scots that they: ,
should be the happy instruments of extending their mode of
religion and_dj£sipating_that jjrofounddarkness in_which thelj
neighboring nations were involv'ed. TEe'general assembly •
appIaiidedTffis glorious imitation of the piety displayed by
their ancestors, who, they said, in three different applica-
tions during the reign of Elizabeth, had endeavored to en^
gage the English by persuasion to'lay aside the use of the
surplice, tippet, and corner-cap."" The convention, too, in
the height of their zeal, ordered every one to swear to thi^
" Euehworth, vol. vi. p. 478. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 373,
e« Busliwortli, vol. vi. p. 388. . • >
376 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
covenant under the penalty of confiscation, besides what
further punishment it should please the ensuing Parliament
to inilict on the refusers as enemies to God, to the king, and
to the kingdom. And being determined that the sword
should carry conviction to all refractory minds, they pre-
pared themselves with great vigilance and activity for their
military enterprises. By means of a hundred thousand
pounds which they received from England ; by the hopes of
good pay and warm quarters, not to mention men's favorable
disposition towards the cause, they soon completed their
levies. And, having added to their other forces the troops
which they had recalled from Ireland, they were ready about
the end of the year to enter England under the command of
their old general, the Earl of Leven, with an army of above
twenty thousand men.*^
The king, foreseeing this tempest which was gathering
upon him, endeavored to secui-e himself by every expedient;
and he cast his eye towards Ireland in hopes that this king-
dom, from which his cause had already received so much
prejudice, might at length contribute somewhat towards his
protection and security.
After the commencement of the Irish insuirection, the
English Parliament, though they undertook the suppression
of it, had ever been too much engaged, either in military
projects or expeditions at home, to take any effectual step
towards finishing that enterprise. They had entered, indeed,
into a contract with the Scots for sending over an army of
ten thousand men into Ireland; and, in order to engage that
nation in this undertaking, besides giving a promise of pay,
they agreed to put Carrickfergus into their hands and to
invest their general with an authority quite independent of
the English government. These troojjs, so long as they were
allowed to remain, were useful by diverting the force of the
Irish j-ebels and protecting in the north the small remnants
of the British planters. But, except this contract with the
Scottish nation, all the other measures of the Parliament
either were hitherto absolutely insignificant, or tended rather
to the prejudice of the Protestant cause in Ireland. By
continuing their violent persecution, and still more violent
menaces, against priests and Papists, they confirmed the
Irish Catholics in their rebellion, and cut off all hope of in-
dulgence and toleration. By disposing beforehand of all the
Irish forfeitures to subscribers or adventurers, they rendered
" Clarendon, vol. iii, p. 383.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 377
allm€n of property despei-ate, and seemed to threaten a total
extirpation of the natives.*^ And while they thus infused
zeal and animosity into the enemy, no measure was pursued
which could tend to support and encourage the Protestants,
now reduced to the last extremities.
So great is the ascendant which, from a long course of
successes, the English has acquired over the Irish nation,
that, though the latter, when they receive military disci-
pline among foreigners, are not surpassed by any troops,
they had never in their own country been able to make any
vigorous effort for the defence or recovery of their liberties.
In many rencounters, the English under Lord More, Sir
William St. Leger, Sir Frederick Hamilton, and others,
had, though under great disadvantages of situation and
numbers, put the Irish to rout, and returned in triumph to
Dublin. The rebels raised the siege of Tredah, after an
obstinate defence made by the garrison.'^ Ormond had ob-
tained two complete victories at Kilrush and Boss, and had
brought relief to all the forts which were besieged or block-
aded in different parts of the kingdom.** But notwithstand-
ing these successes, even the most common necessaries of
life were wanting to the victorious armies. The Irish, in
their wild rage against the British planters, had laid waste
the whole kingdom, and were themselves totally unfit, from
their habitual sloth and ignorance, to raise any convenience
of human life. During the course of six months no sup-
plies had come from England, except the fourth part of one
small vessel's lading. Dublin, to save itself from starving,
had been obliged to send the greater part of "its inhabitants
to England. The army had little ammunition, scarcely ex-
ceeding forty barrels of gunpowder — not even shoes or
clothes — and for want of food the soldiers had been obliged
to eat their own horses. And, though the distress of the
Irish was not much inferior,'^ besides that they were -more
hardened against such extremities, it was but a melancholy
reflection that the two nations, while they continued their
furious animosities, should make desolate that fertile
island which might serve to the subsistence and happiness
of both. ,
The justices and council of Ireland had been engaged
82 A thousancl acres in Ulster were given to every one that subscribed^ two
hundred pounds ; in Coniiaught, to tbe subscribers of three hundred and lifty;
in Munster, for four hundred and fifty ; in Leinster, for six hundred.
83 Eushworth, vol. vi. p. 606. '
8* Rushworth, vol. vi. p. 512. 8= Rushworth, vol. vi. p. 555.
378 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
chiefly by tlie interest and authority of Orraond to fall into
an entire dependence on the king. Parsons, Temple, Lot-
tus, and Meredith, who favored the opposite party, had
been removed, and Charles had supplied their place by
others better affected to his service. A committee of the
English House of Commons, which had been sent over to
Ireland in order to conduct the affairs of that kingdom, had
been excluded the council in obedience to orders trans-
mitted from the king.*'' And these were reasons sufficient,
besides the great difficulties under which they themselves
labored, why the Parliament was unwilling to send supphes
to any army which, though engaged in a cause much favored
by them, was commanded by their declared enemies. They
even intercepted some small succors sent thither by the
king. . .
The king, as he had neither money, arms, ammunition,
nor provisions to spare from his own urgent wants, resolved
to embrace an expedient which might at once relieve the
necessities of the Irish Protestants, and contribute to the
advancement of his affairs in England. A truce with the
rebels, he thought, would enable his subjects in Ireland to
provide for their own support, and would procure him the
assistance of the army against the English Parliament.
But, as a treaty with a people so odious for then- barbarities,
and still more for their religion, might be represented in
invidious colors and renew all those calumnies with which
he had been loaded, it was necessary to proceed with great
caution in conducting that measure. A remonstrance from
the army was made to the Irish council, representing their
intolerable necessities and craving permission to leave the
kingdom ; and if that were refused, " We must have re-
course," they said, " to that first and primary law with
which God has endowed all men ; we mean the law of na^
ture, which teaches every creature to presei-ve itself." ''
Memorials both to the king and Parliament were trans-
mitted by the justices and council, in which their wants and
dangers are strongly set forth ; ** and, though the general
exjjressions in these memorials might perhaps be suspected
of exaggeration, yet, from the particular facts mentioned,
from the confession of the English Parliament itself,^' and
from the very nature of things, it is apparent that the Irish
i» Kushworth, vol. vi. p. 630. Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 167.
8' Rushworth, vol. vi. p. 537., " Kushwortli, vol. vi. p. 538.
M Kushwortb, vol, vi. p. 640.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 379
Protestants were reduced to great extremities;'" and it
became prudent in the king, if not absolutely necessary, to
embrace some exjDcdient which might secure them for a
time from the ruin and misery with which they were threat-
ened.
Accordingly, the king gave orders'^ to Ormond and the
justices to conclude for a year a cessation of arms with the
Council of Kilkenny, by whom the Irish were governed, and
to leave both sides in possession of their present advantages.
The Parliament, whose business it was to find fault with
every measure adopted by the opposite party, and who
would not lose so fair an opportunity of reproaching the
king with his favor to the Irish papists, exclaimed loudly
against this cessation. Among other reasons, they insisted
upon the divine vepgeance, which England might justly
dread, for tolerating antichristian idolatry on pretence of
civil contracts and political agreements.^'^ Religion, though
every day employed as the engiije of their own ambitious
purposes, was supposed too sacred to be yielded up to the
temporal interests or safety of kingdoms.
After the cessation, there was little necessity as well as
no means of subsisting the army in Ireland. The king
ordered Ormond, who was entirely devoted to him, to send
over considerable bodies of it to England. Most of them
continued in his service ; but a small part, having imbibed
in Ireland a strong animosity against the Catholics, and
hearing the king's party universally reproached with popery,
soon after deserted to the Parliament.
Some Irish Catholics came over with these troops and
joined the royal army, where they continued the same cruel-
ties and disorders to which they had been accustomed.f^
The Parliament voted that no quarter, in any action, should
ever, be given them; but Prince Rupert, by making some
reprisals, soon repressed this inhumanity.'*
ffl) See further Carte's, Ormond, toI. iii. No. 113, 127, 128, 129, 134, 136, 141, 144,
149, 158, 159. All these papers put it past doubt that the necessities of the Eng-
lish army in Ireland were extreme. See further Itushworth, vol. vi. p. 637 ; and
Dugdale", pp. 853, 854.
"> 7th September. See Eushworth, vol. vi. pp. 537, 544, 547.
82 Eushworth, vol. vi. p. 557. "s Whitlocke, pp. 78, 103.
M Eushworth, vol. vi. pp. 680, 783.
380 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER LVTI.
INVASION OF THE SCOTS. BATTLE OF MAESTON MOOE.
BATTLE OF CEOPEEDY BEIDGB. ESSEx's POECES DIS-
AEMBD. SECOND BATTLE OF NEWBUEY. EISE AND
CHAEACTEE OF THE INDEPENDENTS. SELF-DENYING OE-
DINANCE. FAIEFAX, CEOMWELL. TEEATY OF UXBEIDGE.
EXECUTION OF LAUD.
[1644.] The king had hitherto, diving the course of the
war, obtained many advantages over the Parliament, and had
raised himself from that low condition into which he had at
first fallen to be nearly upon an equal footing with his adver-
saries. Yorkshire, and all the northern counties, were reduced
by the Marquis of Newcastle ; and, excepting Hull, the Parlia-
ment was master of no garrisons in these quarters. In the
west, Plymouth alone, having been in vain besieged by
Prince Maurice, resisted the king's authority ; and had it
not been for the disappointment in the enterprise on Glou-
cester, the royal garrisons had reached without interi'uption
from one end of the kingdom to the other, and had occupied
a greater extent of ground than those of the Parliament.
Many of the royalists flattered themselves that the same
vigorous spirit which had elevated them to the present
height of power would still favor their progress, and obtain
them a final victory over their enemies ; but those who
judged more soundly observed that besides the accession of
I the whole Scottish nation to the side of the Parliament, the
very principle on which the royal successes had been
founded was every day acquired, more and more, by the
opposite party. The king's troops, full of gentry and nobil-
^ity, had exerted a valor superior to their enemies, and had
hitherto been successful in almost every rencounter ; but in
proportion as the whole nation became warlike by the con-
tinuance of civil discords this advantage was more equally
shared; and superior numbers, it was expected, must at
length obtain the victory. The king's troops, also, ill-paid,
and destitute of every necessary, could not possibly be re-
tained in equal discipline with the parliamentary forces, to
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 381
whom all supplies were furnished from unexhausted stores
and treasures.^ The severity of manners so much affected
by these zealous religionists assisted their military institu-
tions ; and the rigid inflexibility of character by which the
austere reformers of Church and State were distinguished
enabled tlie parliamentary chiefs to restrain their soldiers
within stricter rules and more exact order. And while the
king's officers indulged themselves even in greater licenses
than those to which, during times of peace, they had been
accustomed, they were apt both to neglect their military
duty and to set a pernicious example of disorder to the
soldiers under their command.
At the commencement of the civil war, all Englishmen
who served abroad were invited over and treated with ex-
traordinary respect ; and most of them, being descended of
good families, and, by reason of their absence, unacquainted
with the new principles which depressed the dignity of the
crown, had enlisted under the royal standard. But it is ob-
servable that though the military profession requires great
genius and long experience in the principal commanders, all
its subordinate duties may be discharged by ordinary talents
and from superficial practice. Citizens and country gentle-
men soon became excellent officers, and the generals of
greatest fame and capacity happened, all of them, to spring
up on the side of the Parliament. The courtiers and great
nobilityf^in the other party, checked the growth of any ex-
traordinary genius among the subordinate officers ; and
every man there, as in a regular established government,
was confined to the station in which his birth had placed
him.
The king, that he might make preparations during winter
for the ensuing campaign, summoned to Oxford all the
members of either House who adhered to his interests, and
endeavored to avail himself of the name of Parliament, so
passionately cherished by the English nation.^ The House
of Peers was pretty full, and besides the nobility employed
in different parts of the kingdom, it contained twice as many
members as commonly voted at Westminster.. The House
of Commons consisted of about one hundred and forty,
which amounted not to above half of the other House of
Commons.'
So extremely light had government hitherto lain upon
1 Eushwortli, Tol. vi. p. 560. Eushwortli, vol. Ti. p. 559.
' Bushworth, vol. vi. pp. 566, 574, 575. )
382 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
the people, that the very name of excise was unknown to
them ; and among other evils arising from ' these domestic
wars was the introduction of that impost into England. The
Parliament at Westminster, having voted an excise on beer,
wine, and other commodities, those at Oxford imitated the
example, and conferred that revenue on the king. And, in
order to enable him the better to recruit his army, they
granted him the sum of one hundred thousand pounds, to
be levied by way of loan upon the subject. The king circu-
lated privy-seals, countersigned by the speakers of both
Houses, requiring the loan of jsarticular sums from such
persons as lived within his quarters.^ Neither party had as
yet got above the pedantry of reproaching their antagonists
with these illegal measures.
The Westminster Parliament passed a whimsical ordi-
nance, commanding all the inhabitants of London and the
neighborhood to retrench a meal a week, and to pay the
value of it for the support of the public cause.^ It is easily
imagined that, provided the money were paid, they troubled
themselves but little about the execution of their ordinance..
Such was the king's situation that, in order to restore
peace to the nation, he had no occasion to demand any other
terms than the restoring of the laws and constitution, the
replacing him in the same rights which had ever been en-
joyed by his predecessors, and the re-establishing on his
ancient basis the whole frame of government, civil as well
as ecclesiastical. And, that he might facilitate an end seem-
ingly so desirable, he offered to employ means equally
popular — a universal act of oblivion, and a toleration or in-
dulgence to tender consciences. Nothing, therefore, could
contribute more to his interests than every discourse of
peace and every discussion of the conditions upon which that
blessing could be obtained. For this reason he solicited a
treaty on all occasions, -and desired a conference and
mutual examination of pretensions, even when he enter-
tained no hopes that any conclusion could possibly result
from it.
For like reasons, the Parliament prudently avoided, as
much as possible, all advances towards negotiation, and
were cautious not to expose too easily to censure those high
terms which their apprehensions or their ambition made
them previously demand of the king. Though their partisans
were blinded with the thickest veil of religious prejudices,
* Eusliwoi'th, vol. vi. p. 590. " Dugiiale, p. 119. Eushwortli, toI. vi. p. 748.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 383
they dreaded to bring their pretensions to the test, or lay
them open before the whole nation. In opposition to the
sacred authority of the laws, to the venerable precedents of
many ages, the popular leaders were ashamed to plead
nothing but fears and jealousies, which were not avowed by
the constitution, and for which neither the personal charac-
ter of Charles, so full of virtue, nor his situation, so de-
prived of all independent authority, seemed to afford any
reasonable foundation. Grievances which had been fully
redressed ; powers, either legal or illegal, which had been
entirely renounced, it seemed unpopular, and invidious, and
ungrateful any further to insist on.
The king, that he might abate the universal veneration
paid to the name of Parliament, had issued a declaration in
which he set forth all the tumults by which, himself and his
partisans in both Houses had been driven. from London;
and he thence inferred that the assembly at "Westminster
was no longer a free Parliament, and, till its liberty were
restored, was entitled to no authority. As this declaration
was an obstacle to all treaty, some contrivance seemed
requisite in order to elude it.
A letter was written in the foregoing spring to the Earl
of Essex, and subscribed by the prince, the Duke of York,
and forty-three noblemen.^ They there exhort him to be
an instrument of restoring peace, and to promote that happy
end with those by whom he was employed. Essex, though
much disgusted with the Parliament, though apprehensive
of the extremities to which they were driving, though
desirous of any reasonable accommodation, yet was still "|
rOOTej:eaalHte_tQ_preserye an honorable fidelity to the trust J
^po_seiJft-iim. He replied that as the paper sent him
neither contained any address to the two Houses of Parlia-
ment, nor any acknowledgment of their authority, he could
not communicate it to them. Like proposals had been reiter-
ated by the king during the ensuing campaign, and still met
with a like answer from Essex.'
In order to make k new trial for a treaty, the king, this
spring, sent another letter, directed to the Lords and Com-
mons of Parliament assembled at Westminster ; but as he
also mentioned, in the letter, the Lords and Commons of
Parliament assembled at Oxford, and declared that his scope
and intention was to make provision that all the members
« Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 442. Eushworth, vol, vi. p. 566. Whitlocke, p. 77.
' Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 444. Eushworth, vol vi, pp. 569, 570. Whitlocke, p. 94.
384 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
of both Houses might securely meet in a full and free
assembly, the Parliament, perceiving the conclusion implied,
refused all treaty upon such terms.* And the king, who
knew what small hopes there were of accommodation, would
not abandon the pretensions which he had assumed, nor
acknowledge the two Houses more expressly for a free
Parliament.
This winter the famous Pym died — a man as much hated
by one party as respected by the other. At London he was
considered as the victim to national liberty, who had
abridged his life by incessant labors for the interests of his
country.' At Oxford he was believed to have been struck
with an uncommon disease, and to have been consumed with
vermin, as a mark of divine vengeance for his multiplied
crimes and treasons. He had been so little studious of im-
proving his private fortune in those civil wars of which he
had been one principal author, that the Parliament thought
themselves obliged, from gratitude, to pay tlie debts which
he had contracted.^" We now return to the military operas
tions, which, during the winter, w^ere carried on with vigor
in several places, notwithstanding the severity of the season.
The forces brought from Ireland were landed at Mostyne,
in North Wales; and being put under the command of
Lord Biron, they besieged and took the castles of Hawarden,
Beeston, Acton, and Beddington House.^ JNo place in
Cheshire or the neighborhood now adhered to the Parlia-
ment, except Nantwich ; and to this town Biron laid siege
during the depth of winter. Sir Thomas Fairfax, alarmed
at so considerable a jsrogress of the royalists, assemble^d an
army of four thousand men in Yorkshire, and, having joined
Sir William Brereton, was approaching to the camp of the
enemy. "Biron and his soldiers, elated with successes
obtained in Ireland, had entertained the most profound con-
tempt for the parliamentary forces — a disposition which, if
confined to the army, may be regarded as a good presage
of victory ; but if it extend to the general is the most prob-
able forerunner of a defeat. Fairfax suddenly attacked the
camp of the royalists. The swelling of the river by a thaw
divided one part of the army from the other. That part
exposed to Fairfax, being beaten from their post, retired'
into the church of Acton, and were all taken prisoners , the
other retreated with precipitation.^'' And thus was dissi-
8 Clarendon, vol. iii. p. 449. Whjtlocke, p. 79. " Whitlocke r> 66
i» Journal, Februarj; 13, 1643. ' ^
»i Kusliworth, vol. vi. p. 299. 12 Kushworth, vol. vi, p. 301.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 385
pated, or rendered useless, that body of forces which had
been drawn from Ireland, and the parliamentary party re-
vived in those northwest counties of England.
The invasion from Scotland was attended with conse-
quences of much greater importance. The Scots, having
summoned in vain the town of Newcastle, which was forti-
fied by the vigilance of Sir Thomas Glenham, passed the
Tyne and faced the Marquis of Newcastle, who lay at
Durham, with an army of fourteen thousand men.^^ After
some military operations, in which that nobleman reduced
the enemy to difficulties for forage and provisions, he
received intelligence of a great disaster which had befallen
his forces in Yorkshire. Colonel Bellasis, whom he had left
with a considerable body of troops, was totally routed at
Selby by Sir Thomas Fairfax, who had returned from Che-
shire with his victorious forces.*^ Afraid of being enclosed
between two armies, Newcastle retreated ; and Leven having
joined Lord Fairfax, they sat down before York, to which
the army of the royalists had retired. But as the parlia-
mentary and Scottish forces were not numerous enough to
invest so large a town, divided by a river, they contented
themselves with incommoding it by a loose blockade ; and
affairs remained for some time in suspense between these
oj)posite armies.^
During this winter and spring, other parts of the king-
dom had also been infested with war. Hopton, having
assembled an army of fourteen thousand men, endeavored
to break into Sassex, Kent, and the southern association,
which seemed well disposed to receive them. Waller fell
upon him at Cherington, and gave him a defeat ^^ of con-
siderable importance. In another quarter, siege being laid
to Newark by the parliamentary forces, Prince Rupert pre-
pared himself for relieving a town of such consequence,
which alone preserved the communication open between the
king's southern and northern quarters." With a small force,
but that animated by his active courage, he broke through
tlie enemy, relieved the town, and totally dissipated that
army of the Parliament."
But though fortune seemed to have divided her favors
between the parties, the king found himself, in the main, a
considerable loser by this winter campaign, and he prog-
's Bushworth, vol. vi. p. 615.
" Kushworth, vol. vi. p. 618. 'f 'Rushworth, vol. vi. p. 620-
>8 29th of March. " Kushworth, vol. vi. p. 306-
" 21st of March.
Vol. IV.— 25
386 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
nosticated a still worse event from the ensuing summer.
The preparations of the Parliament were great, and much
exceeded the slender resources of which he was possessed.
'In the eastern association they levied fourteen thousand
men, under the Earl of Manchester, seconded by Cromwell.'*
An army of ten thousand men, under Essex, another of
nearly the same force under Waller, were assembled in the
neighborhood of London. The former was destined to
oppose the king ; the latter was appointed to march into the
west, where Prince Maurice, with a small army which went
continually to decay, was spending his time in vain before
Lyme, an inconsiderable town upon the sea-coast. The
utmost efforts of the king could not raise above ten thousand
men at Oxford ; and on their sword chiefly, during the cam-
paign, were these to depend for subsistence.
The queen, terrified with the dangers which every way
environed her, and afraid of being enclosed in Oxford, in
the middle of the kingdom, fled to Exeter, where she hoped
to be delivered unmolested of the child with which she was
now pregnant, and Avhence she had the means of an easy
escape into France, if pressed by the forces of the enemy.
She knew the implacable hatred which the Parliament, on
account of her religion and her credit with the king, had all
along borne her. Last summer the Commons had sent up to
the Peers an impeachment of high treason against her,
because, in his utmost distresses, she had assisted her hus-
band with arms and ammunition, which she had bought in
Holland.'"' And had she fallen into their hands, neither her
sex, she knew, nor high station could protect her against in-
sults at least, if not danger, from those haughty republicans,
who so little affected to conduct themselves by the maxims
of gallantry and politeness.
_ From the beginning of these dissensions, the Parliament,
it is remarkable, had in all things assumed an extreme as-
cendant over their sovereign, and had displayed a violence,
and arrogated an authority, which, on his side, would not
have been compatible either with his temper or his situation.
"While he spoke perpetually of pardoning all rebels, they
talked of nothing but the punishment of delinquents and
malignants ; while he offered a toleration and indulgence to
tender consciences, they threatened the utter extirplition of
prelacy; to his professions of lenity they opposed declara-
tions of rigor; and the more the ancient tenor of the laws
M Kushworth, vol. It. p. 621. Jo Eushwortli, toI. iv. p. 321.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 387
inculcated a respectful subordination to the crown, the more
careful were they, by their lofty pretensions, to cover that
defect under which they labored.
Their great advantages in the north seemed to second
their ambition, and finally to promise them success in their
unwarrantable enterprises. Manchester, having taken Lin-
coln, had united his army to that of Leven and Fairfax ; and
York was now closely besieged by their combined forces.
That town, though vigorously defended by Newcastle, was
reduced to extremity ; and the parliamentary generals, after
enduring great losses and fatigues, flattered themselves that
all their labors would at last be crowned by this important
conquest. On a sudden, they were alarmed by the approacli
of Prince Rupert. This gallant commander, having vigor-
ously exerted himself in Lancashire and Cheshire, had col-
lected a considerable army ; and, joining Sir Charles Lucas,
who commanded Newcastle's horse, hastened to the relief
of York with an army of twenty thousand men. The Scot-
tish and parliamentary generals raised the siege, and, draw-
ing up on Marston Moor, purposed to give battle to the
royalists. Prince Rupert approached the town by another
quarter, and, interposing the river Ouse between him and
the enemy, safely joined his forces to those of Newcastle.
The marquis endeavored to persuade him that, having so
successfully effected his purpose, he ought to be content
with his present advantages, and leave the enemy, now
much diminished by their losses and discouraged by their
ill success, to dissolve by those mutual dissensions which had
begun to take place among them.^' The prince, whose mar-
tial disposition was not sufficiently tempered with prudence
nor softened by complaisance, pretending positive orders
from the king, without deigning to consult with Newcastle,
whose merits and services deserved better treatment, im-
mediately issued orders for battle, and led out the army to
Marston Moor.^'' This action was obstinately disputed be-
tween the most numerous armies that were engaged during
the course of these wars ; nor were the forces on each side
much different in number. Fifty thousand British troops
were led to mutual slaughter, and the victory seemed long
undecided between them. Prince Rupert, who commanded
the right wing of the royalists, was opposed to Cromwell,^
who conducted the choice troops of the Parliament, inured
" Life of the Duke of Newcastle, p- 40,
22 Clarendon, vol. v. p. 506. 2= Rushwortli, part iii. vol. ii. p. S33.
388 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
to danger under that determined leader, animated by zeal,
and confirmed by the most rigid discipline. After a sharp
combat, the cavalry of the royalists gave way; and such of
the infantry as stood next them were likewise borne down
and put to flight. Newcastle's regiment alone, resolute to
conquer or to perish, obstinately kept their ground, and
maintained, by their dead bodies, the same order in which
they had at first been ranged. In the other wing. Sir
Thomas Fairfax and Colonel Lambert, with some troops,
broke through the royalists ; and, transported by the ardor
of pursuit, soon reached their victorious friends, engaged
also in pursuit of the enemy. But after that attempt was
past, Lucas, who commanded the royalists in this wing, re-
storing order to his broken forces, made a furious attack on
the parliamentary cavalry, threw them into disorder, pushed
them upon their own infantry, and put that whole wing to
rout. When ready to seize on their carriages and baggage,
he perceived Cromwell, who was now returned from pursuit
of the other wing. Both sides were not a little surprised
to find that they must again renew the combat for that vic-
tory which each of them thought they had already obtained.
The front of the battle was now exactly counterchanged ; and
each army occupied the ground which had been possessed
by the enemy at the beginning of the day. This second
battle was equally furious and desperate with the first ; but
iafter the utmost efforts of courage by both parties, victory
wholly turned to the side of the Parliament. The prince's
train of artillery was taken, and his whole army pushed off
the field of battle.^
This event was in itself a mighty blow to the king ; but
proved more fatal in its consequences. The Marquis of
Newcastle was entirely lost to the royal cause. That noble-
man, the ornament of the court and of his order, had been
engaged, contrary to the natural bent of his disposition, into
these military operations merely by a high sense of honor
and a personal regard to his master. The dangers of war
were disregarded by his valor, but its fatigues were oppres-
sive to his natural indolence. Munificent and generous in
his expense, polite and elegant in his taste, courteous and
humane in his behavior, he brought a great accession of
friends and of credit to the party which he embraced. But,
amid all the hurry of action, his inclinations were secretly
drawn to the soft arts of peace, in which he took delight;
2» Kush-worth, vol. vi. p. 632. Whitlocke, p. 89.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 389
and the charms of poetry, music, and conversation often
Btole him from his rougher occupations. He chose Sir Will-
iam Davenant, an ingenious poet, for his lieutenant-general ;
the other persons, in whom he placed confidence, were more
the instruments of his refined pleasures than qualified for the
business which they undertook ; and the severity and appli-
cation requisite to the support of discipline were qualities
in which he was entirely wanting.^^
When Prince Rupert, contrary to his advice, resolved
on this battle, and issued all orders, without communicating
his intentions to hini, he took the field, but, he said, merely
as a volunteer ; and except by his personal courage, which
shone out with lustre, he had no share in the action. En-
raged to find that all his successful labors were rendered
abortive by one act of fatal temerity, terrified with the pros-
pect of renewing his pains and fatigue, he resolved no longer
to maintain the few resources which remained to a desperate
cause, and thought that the same regard to honor which had
at first called him to arms now required him to abandon a
party where he met with such unworthy treatment. Next
morning early he sent word to the prince that he-was in-
stantly to leave the kingdom ; and, without delay, he went
to Scarborough, where he found a vessel which carried him (
beyond sea. During the ensuing years, till the Restoration,
he lived abroad in great- necessity, and saw, with indiffer-
ence, his opulent fortune sequestered by tho;se who assumed
the government of England. He disdained, by submission
or composition, to show obeisance to their usurped author-
ity; and the least favorable censors of his merit allowed
that the fidelity and services of a whole life had sufficiently
atoned for one rash action into which his passion had be-
trayed him.^*
Prince Rupert, with equal precipitation, drew off the re-
mains of his army, and retired into Lancashire. Glenham,
in a few days, was obliged to surrender York ; and he
marched out his garrison with all the honors of war." Lord
Fairfax, remaining in the city, established his government
in that whole county, and sent a thousand horse into Lanca^
shire, to join with the iDarliamentary forces in that quarter,
and attend the motions of Prince Rupert. The Scottish
army marched northwards, in order to join the Earl of Cal-
ender, who was advancing with ten thousand additional
'5 Clarendon, vol. v. pp. 507, 508. See Warwick.
2S Clarendon, vol. v. p. 511. 2' Kusliworth, vol. vi. p. 638,
390 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
forces,'^' and to reduce the town of ITewcastle, which they
took by storm. The Earl of Manchester, with Cromwell,
to whom the fame of this great victory was chiefly ascribed,
and who was wounded in the action, returned to the eastern
association, in order to recruit his army.^'
While these events passed in the north, the king's affairs
in the south were conducted with more success and greater
abilities. Kuthven, a Scotchman, who had been created
Earl of Brentford, acted under the king as general.^
The Parliament soon completed their two armies com-
manded by Essex and Waller. The great zeal of the city
facilitated this undertaking. Many speeches were made to
the citizens by the parliamentary leaders, in order to excite
their ardor. Hollis, in particular, exhorted them "not to
spare, on this important occasion, either their purses, their
persons, or their prayers ; ^ and, in general, it must be con-
fessed, they were sufficiently liberal in all these contribu-
tions. The two generals had orders to march with their
combined armies towards Oxford, and, if the king retired
into that city, to lay siege to it, and by one enterprise put
a jjeriod to the war. The king, leaving a numerous garri-
son in Oxford, passed with dexterity between the two
armies, which had taken Abingdon and had enclosed him
on both sides.'' He marched towards Worcester ; and Wal-
ler received orders from Essex to follow him and watch his
motions, while he himself marched into the west in quest of
Prince Maurice. Waller had approached within two miles
of the royal camp, and was only separated from it by the
Severn, when he received intelligence that the king was ad-
vanced to Bewdley, and had directed his course towards
Shrewsbury. In order to prevent him, Waller presently
dislodged, and hastened by quick marches to that town ;
while the king, suddenly returning upon his own footsteps,
reached Oxford ; and having reinforced his army from that
garrison, now in his turn marched out in quest of Waller.
The two armies faced each other at Cropredy Brid£>-e, near
Banbury ; but the Charwell ran between them. Next day
the king decamped, and marched towards Daventry. Wal-
ler ordered a considerable detachment to pass the bridge,
with an intention of falling on the rear of the royalists. He
was repulsed, routed, and pursued with considerable loss.^^
M Whitlocke, p. 88. 20 Rushworth, vol. -vi p 641
=» KusUworth, vol. vi. p. 662. si 3^ of June.
"2 Kushwortli, vol. vi. p. 676, Clarendon, vol. y. p. 497. Si/ Edward Walker.
p. 31. '
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 391
Stunned and disheartened with this blow," his army decayed
and melted away by desertion ; and the king thought he
mi_4ht safely leave it, and march westward against Essex.
That general, having obliged Prince Maurice to raise the
siege of Lyme, having taken Weymouth and Taunton, ad-
vanced still in his conquests, and met with no equal oppo-
sition. The king followed him, and having reinforced his
army from all quarters, appeared in the field with an army
superior to the enemy. Essex, retreating into Cornwall, in-
formed the Parliament of his danger, and desired them to
send an army which might fall on the king's rear. General
Middleton received a commission to execute that service,
but came too late. Essex's army, cooped up in a narrow
corner at Lestithiel, deprived of all forage and provisions,
and seeing no prospect of succor, was reduced to the last
extremity. The king pressed them on one side, Prince
Maurice on another, Sir Richard Granville on a third. Es-
sex, Robai'ts, and some of the principal officers escaped in a
boat to Plymouth ; Balfour with his horse passed the king's
outposts, in a ^hick mist, and got safely to the garrisons of
his own party. The foot under Skippon were obliged to
surrender their arms, artillery, baggage and ammunition ;
and, being conducted to the Parliament's quarters, were
dismissed. By this advantage, which was much boasted of,
the king, besides the honor of the enterprise, obtained what
he stood extremely in need of £^he Parliament, having pre-
served the men, lost what they could easily I'epair.^
No sooner did this intelligence reach London than the
committee of the two kingdoms voted thanks to Essex for
his fidelity, courage, and conduct ; and this method of pro-
ceeding, no less politic than magnanimous, was preserved
by the Parliament throughout the whole course of the war.
Equally indulgent to their friends and rigorous to their en-
emies, they employed with success these two powerful en-
gines of reward and punishment in confirmation of' their
authority.
That the king might have less reason to exult in the ad-
vantages which he had obtained in the west, the Parliament
opposed to him very numerous forces. Having armed anew
Essex's subdued but not disiieartened troops, they ordered
Manchester and Cromwell to march with their recruited
forces from the eastern association, and, joining their armies
ss Rusliworth, vol. ri. p. 699, etc. Whitlocke, p, 98. Clarendon, vol. v. pp.
B2i, 525. Sir Edward Walker, pp. (i9, 70, etc.
392 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
to those of Waller and Middleton as well as of Essex, offered
battle to the king. Charles chose his post at Newbury,
where the parliamentary armies, under the Earl of Man-
chester, attacked him with great -vigor ; and that town was
a second time the scene of the bloody animosities of the
Ent^lish. Essex's soldiers, exhorting one another to repair
their broken honor and revenge the disgrace of Lestithiel,
made an impetuous assault on the royalists ; and having re-
coyered some of their cannon, lost in Cornwall, could not
forbear embracing them with tears of joy. Though the
king's troops defended themselves with valor, they were
overpowered by numbers ; and the night came very season-
ably to their relief, and prevented a total overthrow.
Charles, leaving his baggage and cannon in Dennington
Castle, near Newbury, forthwith retreated to Wallingford,
and thence to Oxford. There Prince Rupert and the Earl
of Northampton joined him with considerable bodies of cav-
alry. Strengthened by this reinforcement, he ventured to
advance towards the enemy, new employed before Denning-
ton Castle.'* Essex, detained by sickness, had not joined
the army since his misfortune in Cornwall. Manchester,
who commanded, though his forces were much superior to
those of the king, declined an engagement, and rejected
Cromwell's advice, who earnestly pressed him not to neglect
so favorable an opportunity of finishing the war. The
king's army, by bringing off their cannon from Dennington
Castle in the face of the enemy, seemed to have sufficiently
repaired the honor which they had lost at Newbury ; and
Charles, having the satisfaction to excite between Manches-
ter and Cromwell equal animosities with those which for-
merly took place between Essex and Waller,"" distributed
his army into winter-quarters.
Those contests among the parliamentary generals, which
had disturbed their military operations, were renewed in
London during the winter season ; and, each being sup-
ported by his own faction, their mutual reproaches and ac-
cusations agitated the whole city and Parliament. There
had long prevailed in that party a secret distinction, which,
though the dread of the king's power had hitherto sup-
pressed it, yet, in proportion as the hopes of success became
nearer and more immediate, began to discover itself with
high contest and animosity. The Independents, who had
at first taken shelter and concealed themselves under the
3« Eueliwortb, vol. vi. p. 721. as Kusliworth, vol. vii. p. 1.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 393
wings of Presbyterians, now evidently appeared a distinct
party, and betrayed very different views and pretensions.
We must here endeavor to explain the genius of this party
and of its leaders, who henceforth occupy the scene of ac-
tion.
During those times when the enthusiastic spirit met
with such honor and encouragement, and was the imme-
diate means of distinction and preferment, it 'was impossi-
ble to set bounds to these holy fervors, or confine within
any natural limits what was directed towards an infinite
and a supernatural object. Every man, as prompted by
the warmth of his temper, excited by emulation, or sup-
ported by his habits of hypocrjsy, endeavored to distinguish
himself beyond his fellows, and to arrive at a higher pitch
of saintship and perfection. In proportion to its degree of
fanaticism, each sect became dangerous and destructive,
and, as the Independents went a note higher than the Pres-
byterians, they could less be restrained within any bounds
of temper and moderation. From this distinction, as from
a first principle, were derived, by a necessary consequence,
all the other differences of these two sects.
The Independents rejected all ecclesiastical establish-
ments, and would admit of no spiritual courts, no govern-
ment among pastors, no interposition of the magistrate in
religious concerns, no fixed encouragement annexed to any
system of doctrines or opinions. According to their prin-
ciples, each congregation, united voluntarily and by spirit-
ual ties, composed, within itself, a separate church, and ex-
ercised a jurisdiction, but one destitute of temporal sanc-
tions, over its own pastor and its own members. The elec-j
tion alone of the congregation was sufficient to bestow the
sacerdotal character ; and as all essential distinctions was
denied between the laity and the clergy, no ceremony, no
institution, no vocation, no imposition of hands, was, as in
all other churches, supposed requisite to convey a right to',
holy orders. The enthusiasm of the Presbyterians led;
them to reject the authority of prelates, to throw off th^l
restraint of liturgies, to retrench ceremonies, to limit the
riches and authority of the priestly office ; the fanaticism ,
of the Independents, exalted to a higher pitch, abolished
ecclesiastical government, disdained creeds and systems,
neglected every ceremony, and confounded all ranks and
orders. The soldier, the merchant, the mechanic, indulg-
ing the fervors of zeal, and guided by the illapses of
394 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
the Spii'it, resigned himself to an inward and superior di-
rection, and was consecrated, in a manner, by an immediate
intercourse and communication with Heaven.
The Catholics, pretending to an infallible guide, had
justified, upon that principle, their doctrine and practice of
persecution ; the Presbyterians, imagining that such clear
and certain tenets as they themselves adopted could be re-
jected only frpm a criminal and pertinacious obstinacy, had
hitherto gratified to the full their bigoted zeal in a like doc-
trine and practice ; the Independents, from the extremity
of the same zeal, were led into the milder principles of tol-
eration. Their mind, set afloat in the wide sea of inspira-
tion, could confine itself within no certain limits ; and the
same variations in which an enthusiast indulged himself he
jvas apt, by a natural train of thinking, to permit in others.
Of all Christian sects, this was the first which, during its
prosperity as well a^ its adversity, always adopted the prin-
ciple of toleration ; and it is remarkable that so reasonable
a doctrine owed its origin not to reasoning, but to the height
/of extravagance and fanaticism.
Popery and prelacy alone, whose genius seemed to tend
towards superstition, were treated by the Independents with
rigor. The doctrines, too, of fate or destiny were deemed
by them essential to all religion. In these rigid opinions
the whole sectaries, amid all their other differences, unani-
mously concurred.
The political system of the Independents kept pace with
their religious. Not content with confining to very narrow
limits the ])ower of the crown, and reducing the king to the
rank of first magistrate, which was the project of the Pres-
byterians, this sect, more ardent in the pursuit of liberty,
aspired to a total abolition of the monarchy, and even of
the aristocracy, and projected an entire equality of rank and
order in a republic, quite free and independent. In conse-
quence of this scheme, they were declared enemies to all
proposals for peace, except on such terms as, they knew, it
was impossible to obtain ; and they adhered to that maxim,
which is in the main prudent and political, that whoever
draws the sword against his sovereign should throw away
the scabbard. By terrifying others with the fear of ven-
geance from the offended prince, they had engaged greater
numbers into the opposition against peace than had adojited
their other principles with regard to government and relig-
ion. And the great success which had already attended the
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 395
arms of the Parliament, and the greater which was soon
expected, confirmed tliem still further in this obstinacy.
Sir Harr)' Vane, Oliver Cromwell, Nathaniel Fiennes,
and Oliver St. John, the solicitor-general, were regarded as
the leaders of the Independents. The Earl of Essex, dis-
gusted with a war of which he began to foresee the perni-
cious consequences, adhered to the Presbyterians, and pro-
moted every reasonable plan of accommodation. The Earl
of Northumberland, fond of his rank and dignity, regarded
with horror a scheme which, if it took place, would con-
found himself and his family with the lowest in the king-
dom. The Earls of Warwick and Denbigh, Sir Philip
Stapleton, Sir William Waller, Hollis, Massey, Whitlocke,
Maynard, Glyn, had embraced the same sentiments. In the'
Parliament a considerable majority, and a much greater in
the nation, were attached to the Presbyterian party, and itj
was only by cunning and deceit at first, and afterwards byj
military violence, that the Independents could entertain any
hopes of success.
The Earl of Manchester, provoked at the impeachment
which the king had lodged against him, had long forwarded
the war with alacrity ; but being a man of humanity and
good principles, the view of public calamities, and the pros-
pect of a total subversion of government began to moderate
his ardor, and inclined him to promote peace on any safe or
honorable terms. He was even suspected, in the field, not
to have pushed to the utmost against the king the advan-
tages obtained by the arms of the Parliament, and Crom-
well, in the public debates, revived the accusation that this
nobleman had wilfully neglected, at Dennington Castle, a
favorable opportunity of finishing the war by a total defeat
of the royalists. " I showed him evidently," said Crom-
well, " how this success might be obtained, and only desired
leave, with my own brigade of horse, to charge the king's
army in their retreat, leaving it in the earl's choice, if he
thought proper, to remain neutral with the rest of his forces ;
but, notwithstanding my importunity, he positively refused
his consent, and gave no other reason but that, if we met
with a defeat, there was an end of our pretensions ; we
should all be rebels and traitors, and be executed and for-
feited by law." =«
Manchester, by way of recrimination, informed the Par-
liament that at another time, Cromwell having proposed
M Clarendon, vol. v. p. 561.
396 HISTOBT OF ENGLAND.
some scheme to which it seemed improbable the Parliament
would agree, he insisted and said, " 'My lord, if you will
stick firm to honest men, you shall find yourself at the head
of an army, which shall give law both to king and Parlia-
ment.' This discourse," continued Manchester, " made the
greater impressioii on me, because I knew the lieutenant-
general to be a man of very deep designs ; and he has even
ventured to tell me that it never would be well with Eng-
land till I were Mr. Montague, and there were ne'er a lord
or peer in the kingdom." ^^ So full was Cromwell of these
. republican projects that, notwithstanding his habits of pro-
found dissimulation, he could not so carefully guard his ex-
pressions but that sometimes his favorite notions would es-
cape him.
These violent dissensions brought matters to extremity,
and pushed the Independents to the execution of their de-
signs. The present generals, they thought, were more de-
sirous of protracting than finishing the war, and having en-
tertained a scheme for preserving still some balance in the
constitution, they were afraid of entirely subduing the king,
and reducing him to a condition where he should not be enti-
tled to ask any concessions. A new model alone of the army
could bring complete victory to the Parliament, and free the
nation from those calamities under which it labored. But
how to effect this project was the diflSculty. The authority
as well as merits of Essex was very great with the Parlia-
ment. Not only he had served them all along with the most
exact and scrupulous honor, it was, in some measure, owing
to his popularity that they had ever been enabled to levy
an army, or make head against the royal cause. Manches-
ter, Warwick, and the other commanders had likewise great
credit with the public ; nor were there any hopes of prevail-
ing over them but by laying the plan of an oblique and arti-
ficial attack, which would conceal the real purpose of their
antagonists. The Soots and Scottish commissioners, jealous
of the progress of the Independents, were a new obstacle,
which without the utmost art and subtlety it would be diffi-
cult to surmount."' The methods by which this intriaue
was conducted are so singular, and show so fully the genius
of the age, that we shall give a detail of them as they are
delivered by Lord Clarendon.^^
A fast on the last Wednesday of every month had been
^' Clarendon, vol. v. p. 562.
s' (Jlareudou, vol. -. 265. s» Clarendon, vol. v. p. 565.
HISTOEY 01" ENGLAND. 397
ordered by the Parliament at the beginning of these com-
motions ; and their preachers on that day were careful to
keep alive, by their vehement declamations, the pojiular
prejudices entertained against the king, against prelacy, and
against popery. The king, that he might combat the Par-
liament with their own weapons, appointed likewise a
monthly fast, when the people should be instructed in the
duties of loyalty and of submission to the higher powers ;
and he chose the second Friday of every month for the de-
votion of the royalists.*" It was now proposed and carried
in Parliament by the Independents that a new and more
solemn fast should be voted, when they should implore the
divine assistance for extricating them from those perplex-
ities in which they were at present involved. On that day
the preachers, after many political prayers, took care to
. treat of the reigning divisions in the Parliament, and as-
cribed them entirely to the selfish ends pursued by the mem-
bers. In the hands of those members, they said, are lodged
all the considerable commands of the army, all the lucraftye
offices in the civil administration; and while the nation is
falling every day into poverty, and groans under an insup-
portable load of taxes, these men multiply possession on
possession, and will in a little time be masters of all the
wealth of the kingdom. That such persons who fatten on
the calamities of their country will ever embrace any effect-
ual measure for bringing them to a period, or insuring final
success to the war, cannot reasonably be expected. Lin-
geiring expedients alone will be pursued, and, operations in
the field concurring, in the same pernicious end, with delib-
erations in the cabinet, civil commotions will forever be
perpetuated in the nation. After exaggerating these disor-
ders, the ministers returned to their prayers, and besought
the Lord that he would take his own work into his own
hand; and, if the instruments whom he had hitherto em-
ployed were not worthy to bring to a conclusion so glorious
a design, that he would inspire others more fit, who might
perfect what was begun, and, by establishing true religion,
put a speedy period to the public miseries.
On the day subsequent to these devout animadversions,
when the Parliament met, a new spirit appeared in the looks
of many. Sir Henry Vane told the Commons that if ever
God appeared to them, it was in the ordinances of yester-
day ; that, as he was credibly informed by many who had
" Kushworth, vol. yi. p. 364.
398 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
been present in different congregations, the same lamenta-
tions and discourses which the godly preachers had made
before them had been heard in other churches ; that so
remarkable a concurrence could proceed only from the
immediate operation of the Holy Spirit ; that he therefore
entreated them, in vindication of their own honor, in con-
sideration of their duty to God and their country, to lay
aside all private ends and renounce every office attended
with profit or advantage ; that the absence of so many
members, occupied in different employments, had rendered
the House extremely thin and .diminished the authority of
their determinations ; and that he could not forbear, for his
own part, accusing himself as one who enjoyed a gainful
office — that of treasurer of the navy ; and though he was
possessed of it before the civil commotions, and owed it not
to the favor of the Parliament, yet was he ready to resign
it and to sacrifice to the welfare of his country every con-
sideration of private interest and advantage.
Cromwell next acted his part, and commended^ the
preachers for having dealt with them plainly and impartially,
and told them of their errors, of which they were so unwill-
ing to be informed. Though they dwelt on many things, he
said, on which he had never before reflected, yet, upon revolv-
ing them, he could not but confess that till there were a
perfect reformation in these particulars, nothing which they
undertook could possibly prosper. The Parliament, no
doubt, continued he, had done wisely, on the commencement
of the war, in engaging several of its members in the most
dangerous parts of it, and thereby satisfying the nation that
they intended to share all hazards with the meanest of the
peojjle. But affairs are now changed. During the progress
of military operations there have arisen in the parliamentary
armies many excellent officers who arc qualified for higher
commands than they are now possessed of. And though it
becomes not men engaged in such a cause to put trust in the
arm of flesh, yet he could assure them that their troops
contained generals fit to command in any enterprise in
Christendom. The army, indeed, he was soi-ry to say it,
did not correspond by its discipline to the merit of the
officers ; nor were there any hopes till the present vices and
disorders which prevail among the soldiers were repressed
by a new model, that their forces would ever be attended
with signal success in any undertaking.
In opposition to this reasoning of the Independents,
HISTOBT OF ENGLAND. 399
many of the Presbyterians showed the inconvenience and
danger of the projected alteration. Whitlocke, in particular,
a man of honor, who loved his country, though in every
change of government he always adhered to the ruling
power, said that besides the ingratitude of discarding,
and that by fraud and artifice, so many noble persons, to
whom the Parliament had hitherto owed its chief support,
they would find it extremely difficult to supply the, place of
men now formed by experience to command and authority;]
that the rank alone possessed by such as were members of i
either House prevented envy, retained the army in obedience,!
and gave weight to military orders ; that greater confidence
might safely be reposed in men of family and fortune than
in mere adventurers, who would be apt to entertain separate
views from those which were embraced by the persons who
employed them ; that no maxim of policy was more undis-
puted than the necessity of preserving an inseparable con-
nection between the civil and military powers, and of
retaining the latter in strict subordination to the former ;
that the Greeks and Romans, the wisest and most passionate
lovers of liberty, had ever intrusted to their senators the
command of armies, and had maintained an unconquerable
jealousy of all mercenary forces ; and that such men alone,
whose interests were involved in those of the public, and
who possessed a vote in the civil deliberations, would suffi-
ciently respect the authority of Parliament, and never could
be tempted to turn the sword against those by whom it was
committed to them."
Notwithstanding these reasonings, a committee was
chosen to frame what was called the self-denying ordinance,
by which the members of both Houses were excluded from
all civil and military employments, except a few offices which
were specified. This ordinance was the subject of great
debate, and for a long time rent the Parliament and city into
factions. But at last — by the prevalence of envy with some ;
with others, of false modesty ; with a great many, of the
republican and independent views — it passed the House of
Commons and was sent to the upper House. The Peers,
though the scheme was, in part, levelled against their order ;
though all of them were, at bottom, extremely averse to it ;
though they even ventured once to reject it, yet possessed
so little authority that they durst not persevere in opposing
the resolution of the Commons ; and they thought it better
" WMtlocke, pp. 114, 115. Eushworth, vol. vii. p. 6.
400 HISTOET 01" ENGLAND.
policy by an unlimited compliance to ward off that rum
which they saw approaching.^^ The ordinance, therefore,
having passed both Houses, Essex, Warwick, Manchester,
Denbigh, Waller, Brereton, and many others resigned their
commands, and received the thanks of Parliament for their
good services. A pension of ten thousand pounds a year
was settled on Essex.
[1645.] It was agreed to recruit the army to twenty-two
thousand men ; and Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed gene-
ral.*' It is remarkable that his commission did not run, like
that of Essex, in the name of the king and Parliament, but
in that of the Parliament alone ; and the article concerning
the safety of the king's person was omitted. So much had
animosities increased between the parties." Cromwell,
being a member of the lower House, should have been
discarded with the others ; but this impartiality would have
disappointed all the views of those who had introduced the
self-denying ordinance. He was saved by a subtlety, and
by that political craft in which he was so eminent. At the
time when the other officers resigned their commissions,
care was taken that he should be sent, with a body of horse,
to relieve Taunton, besieged by the royalists. His absence
being remarked, orders were despatched for his imlnediate
attendance in Parliament ; and the new general was directed
to employ some other officer in that service. A ready com-
pliance was feigned ; and the very day was named on which
it was averred he would take his place in the House. But
Fairfax, having appointed a rendezvous of the army, wrote
to the Parliament, and desired leave to retain for some days
Lieutenant-general Cromwell, whose advice, he said, would
be useful in supplying the place of those officers who had
resigned. Shortly after, he begged with much earnestness
that they would allow Cromwell to serve that campaign.*^
And thus the Independents, though the minority, prevailed
by art and cunning over the Presbyterians, and bestowed
the whole military authority in appearance upon Fairfax, in
reality upon Cromwell.
Fairfax was a person equally eminent for courage and
for humanity ; and though strongly infected with prejudices
or principles derived from religious and party zeal, he seems
never, in the coui-seof his public conduct, to have been divert-
ed by private interest or ambition from adhering strictly to
« Rushworth.vol.vii. pp.8,15. « Whltlocke, p. U8. Eushworth, vol. vii p 1
" Whitlocke, p. 133. « Clarendon, vol. v. pp. 629, 630. Whitlocke, p. 147.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 401
these principles. Sincere in his professions, disinterested in
his views, open in his conduct, he had formed one of the most
shining characters of the age, had not the extreme narrow-
ness of his genius, in everything but in war, and his embar-
rassed and confused elocution on every occasion but when
he gave orders, diminished the lustre of his merit, and ren-
dered the part which he acted, even when vested with the
supreme command,' but secondary and subordinate.
Cromwell, by whose sagacity and insinuation Fairfax
was entirely governed, is one of the most eminent and most
singular personages that occur in history. The strokes of
his character are as open and as strongly marked as the
schemes of his conduct were during the time dark and im-
penetrable. His extensive capacity enabled him to form
the most enlarged projects ; his enterprising genius was not
dismayed with the boldest and most dangerous. Carried
by his natural temper to magnanimity, to grandeur, and to
an imperious and domineering policy, he yet knew, when
necessary, to employ the most profound dissimulation, the
most oblique and refined artifice, the semblance of the
greatest moderation and simplicity. A friend to justice,
though his public conduct was one continued violation of it;
devoted to religion, though he perpetually employed it as
the instrument of his ambition, he was engaged in crimes
from the prospect of sovereign power — a temptation which
is, in general, irresistible to human nature. And by using
well that authority which he had attained by fraud and
violence he has lessened, if not overpowered, our detesta^
tion of his enormities by our admiration of his success and
of his genius.
During this important transaction of the self-denying
ordinance, the negotiations for peace were likewise carried
on, though with small hopes of success. The king having
sent two messages — one from Evesham,*' another from Tav-
istoke " — desiring a treaty, the Parliament despatched com-
missioners to Oxford with proposals as high as if they ob-
tained a complete victory.*^ The advantages gained during
the campaign, and the great distresses of the royalists, had
much elevated their hopes ; and they were resolved to re-
pose no trust in men inflamed with the highest animosity
against them, and who, were they possessed of power, were
" 4th of July, 1644. « 8th of September, 1644.
« Dugdale, p. 737. Kushworth, vol, vl. p. 850
Vol. IV.— 26
402 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
fully authorized by law to punish all their opponents as
rebels and traitors.
The king, when he considered the proposals and the dis-
position of the Parliament, could not expect any accommo-
dation, and had no prospect but of war, or of total submis-
sion and subjection ; yet, in order to satisfy his own party,
who were impatient for peace, he agreed to send the Duke
of Richmond and Earl of Southampton with an answer to
the proposals of the Parliament, and at the same time to
desire a treaty upon their mutual demands and pretensions.^^
It now became necessary for him to retract his former
declaration that the two Houses at Westminster were not a
free Parliament ; and accordingly he was induced, though
with great reluctance, to give them in his answer the appel-
lation of the Parliament of England.^" But it appeared
afterwards by a letter which he wrote to the queen, and of
which a copy was taken at Naseby, that he secretly entered
an explanatory protest in his council-book ; and he pretend-
ed that though he had called them the Parliament, he had
not thereby acknowledged them for such.^^ This subtlety,
which had been frequently objected to Charles, is the most
noted of those very few instances from which the enemies
of this prince have endeavored to load him with the imputa-
tion of insincerity, and have inferred that the Parliament
could repose no confidence in his professions and declara-
tions, not even in his laws and statutes. There is, however,
it must be confessed, a difference universally avowed be-
tween simply giving to men the appellation which they as-
sume and the formal acknowledgment of their title to it;
nor is anything more common and familiar in all public
transactions.
The time and place of treaty being settled, sixteen com-
missioners from the king met at Uxbridge, with twelve au-
thorized by the Parliament, attended by the Scottish com-
missioners. It was agreed that the Scottish and parlia-
mentary commissioners should give in their demands with
regard to three important articles — religion, the militia, and
Ireland; and that these should be successively discussed
» WTiitloclce, p. 110. eo wutloclie, p. 111. Dugdale, p. 748.
M His words aie : "As for my calling tljose at London a Parliament, I shall
refer thee to Di^by for particular satisfaction. This in general : if there had
been but two besides myself of my opinion, I had not done it ; and the arRumeut
that prevailed with me was that the calling did no ways acknowledge them to be
a Parliament ; upon which condition and construction I did it, and no otherwise
and accordingly it is registered in the council-books, with the council's unani-
mous approbation." — The King's Cabinet Opened. Kushworth, vol. Iv. p 943
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 403
in conference with the king's commissioners/^ It was soon
found impracticable to come to any agreement with regard
to any of these articles.
In the summer of 1643, while the negotiations were car-
ried on with Scotland, the Parliament had summoned an
assembly at Westminster, consisting of one hundred and
twenty-one divines and thirty laymen, celebrated in their
party for piety and learning. By their advice alterations
were made in the Thirty-nine Articles, or in the meta-
physical doctrines of the Church ; and what was of greater
importance, the liturgy was entirely abolished, and' in its
stead a new directory for worship was established, by which,
suitably to the spirit of the Puritans, the utmost liberty,
both in praying and preaching, was indulged to the public
teachers. By the solemn league and covenant, episcopacy
was abjured, as destructive of all true piety ; and a national
engagement, attended with every circumstance that could
render a promise sacred and obligatory, was entered into
with the Scots never to suffer its readmission. All these
measures showed little spirit of accommodation in the Par-
liament; and the king's commissioners were not surprised
to find the establishment of presbytery and the directory
positively demanded together with the subscription of the
covenant both by the king and kingdom.^^
"2 Wliitlocke, p. 121. Dugdale, p. T58.
03 Such love of contradiction prevailed in the Parliament that they had con-
verted Christmas, which with the cliurehmen was a great festival, into a solemn
fast and humiliation, "in order," as they said, '' that it might call to reniem-
bi-anee our sins and the sins of our forefathers, who, pretending to celebrate the
meinoiy of Christ, have turned this feast into an extreme forgetfulness of him
by giving liberty to carnal and sensual delights."— Rush worth, vol. vi. p. 817. It
is remarkable that as the Parliament abolished all holidays, and severely pro-
hibited all amusement on the Sabbath, and even burned by the hands of the
hangman the king's book of sports, the nation found that there was no lime left
for relaxation or diversion. Upon application, therefore, of the servants and
apprentices, the Parliament appointed the second Tuesday of every month for
play and recreation.— liushworth, vol. vii. p. 460. Whitlocke, p. 247. But these
institutions they found great difficulty to execute ; and the people were resolved
to be merry when they themselves pleased, not when the Parliament should pre-
sciibe it to them. The keeping of ChristLnas holidays was long a great mark of
nialignajicy, and very severely censured by the Co'mmons.— Whitlocke, p. 2t-6,
Even minced pies, which custom had mjide a Christmas dish among the church-
men, was regarded during that season as a profane and superstitious viand by
the sectaries, though at other times it agreed very well with their stomachs- In
the parliamentary ordinance, too, for ftie observance of the Sabbath, they in-
serted a clause for the taking down of May-poles, which they called a heathenish
vanity. Since we are upon this subject, it may not be amiss to mention that,
besides setting apart Sunday for the ordinances, as they called them, the godly
had regular meetings oji the Thursdays for resolving cases of conscience, and
conferring about their progress in grace. What they were chiedy anxious about
■was the fixing the precise moment of their conversion or new birth ; and whoever
could not ascertain so difhcult a point of calculation could not pretend to any
title to saintship. The profane scholars at Oxford, after the Parliament became
masters of that town, gave to the house in which the zealots assembled the
denomination of ifcrw^/e Shop; the zealots, in their turn, insulted the scholars
404 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
Had Charles been of a disposition to neglect all theologi-
cal controversy, he yet had been obliged, in good policy, to
adhere to episcopal jurisdiction, not only because it was fa-
vorable to monarchy, but because all his adherents were pas-
sionately devoted to it ; and to abandon tliein in what they
regarded as so important an article was forever to relinquish
their friendship and assistance. But Charles had never at-
tained such enlarged principles. He deemed bishops essen-
tial to the very being of a Christian Church ; and he thought
himself bound by more sacred ties than those of policy, or
even of honor, to the support of that order. His conces-
sions, therefore, on this head he judged sufficient when he
agreed that an indulgence should be given to tender con-
sciences with regard to ceremonies ; that the bishops should
exercise no act of jurisdiction or ordination without the.
consent and counsel of such presbyters as should be chosen
by the clergy of each diocese ; that they should reside con-,
stantly in their diocese, and be bound to preach every Sun-
day ; that pluralities be abolished ; that abuses in ecclesias-
tical courts be redressed ; and that a hundred thousand
pounds be levied on the bishops' estates and the chapter
lands for payment of debts contracted by the Parliament.''*
These concessions, though considerable, gave no satisfaction
to the parliamentary commissioners ; and, without abating
anything of their rigor on this head, they proceeded to their
demands with regard to the militia.
The king's partisans had all along maintained that the
fears and jealousies of the Parliament, after the securities so
early and easily given to public liberty, were either feigned
or groundless ; and that no human institution could be bet-
ter poised and adjusted than was now the government of
England. By the abolition of the Star-chamber and court
of high commission, the prerogative, they said, has lost all
that coercive power by which it had formerly suppressed or
endangered liberty ;. by the establishment of triennial par-
liaments, it can have no leisure to acquire new powers, or
guard itself during any time from the inspection of that
vigilant assembly ; by the slender revenue of the crown, no
king can ever attain such influence as to procure a repeal of
these salutary statutes ; and while the prince commands no
military force, he will in vain by violence attempt an in-
end professors ; and, intruding into the place of lectures, declaimed against hn-
man learning, and challenged the most knowing of them to prove that their call-
iug was from Christ. See Wood's Fasti Oxouiensee, d. 740,
M Dugdale, pp. 779, 780.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 405
f ringement of laws so clearly defined by means of late dis-
putes, and so passionately cherished by all his subjects. lu
this situation, surely, the nation, governed by so virtuous a
monarch, may for the present remain in tranquillity, and try
whether it be not possible by peaceful arts to elude that
danger ,with which, it is pretended, its liberties are still
threatened.
But though the royalists insisted on these plausible topics
before the commencement of war, they were obliged to own
that the progress of civil commotions had somewhat abated
the force and evidence of this reasoning. If the power of
the militia, said the opposite party, be intrusted to the king,
it would not now be difficult for him to abuse that authority.
By the rage of intestine discord, his partisans are inflamed
into an extreme hatred against their antagonists ; and have
contracted, no doubt, some prejudices against popular priv-
ileges, which, in their apprehension, have been the source of
so much disorder. Were the arms of the state, therefore,
put entirely into such hands, what public security, it maybe
demanded, can be given to liberty, or what private security
to those who, in opposition to the letter of the law, have so
generously ventured their lives in its defence ? In compli-
ance with this apprehension, Charles offered that the arms
of the state should be entrusted during three years to twenty
commissioners, who should be named, either by common
agreement between him and the Parliament, or one half by
him, the other by the Parliament. And after the expiration
of that term, he insisted that his constitutional authority
over the militia should again return to him.*^
The parliamentary commissioners at first demanded that
the power of the sword should forever be intrusted to such
persons as the Parliament alone should appoint ; ^^ but after-
wards they -relaxed so far as to require that authority only
for seven years ; after which it was not to return to the
king, but to be settled by bill, or by common agreement be-
tween him and his Parliament.'^^ The king's commissioners
asked whether jealousies and fears were all on one side, and
whether the prince, from such violent attempts and preten-
sions as he had experienced, had not at least as good reason
to entertain apprehensions for his authority as they for their
liberty ; whether there were any equity in securing only one
party and leaving the other during the space of seven years
entirely at the mercy of their enemies ; whether, if unlimited
C6 Dugdale, p. 798. ^ Dugdale, p. 791. i" Dugdale, p. 820.
406 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
power were intrusted to the Parliament -during so long a
period, it would not be easy for them to frame the subse-
quent bill in the manner most agreeable to themselves, and
keep forever possession of the sword, as well as of every ar-
ticle of civil power and jurisdiction.^^
The truth is, after the commencement of war it was very
difficult, if not impossible, to find security for both parties,
especially for that of the Parliament. Amid such violent
animosities, power alone could insure safety; and the power
of one side was necessarily attended with danger to the
other. Few or no instances occur in history of an equal,
peaceful, and durable accommodation that has been concluded
between two factions which had been inflamed into civil
war.
With regard to Ireland, there were no greater hopes of
agret'iiient between the parties. The Parliament demanded
that the truce with the rebels should be declared null ; that
the management of the war should be given over entirely to
the Parliament ; and that, after the conquest of Ireland, the
nomination of the lord-lieutenant and of the judges, or, in
other words, the sovereignty of that kingdom, should like-
wise remain in their hands.^"
What rendered an accommodation more desperate was
that the demands on these three heads, however exorbitant,
were acknowledged by the jiarliamentary commissioners to
be nothing but preliminaries. After all these were granted,
it would be necessary to proceed to the discussion of those
other demands, still more exorbitant, which a little before
had been transmitted to the king at Oxford. Such ignomin-
ious terms were there insisted on that worse could scarcely
be demanded were Charles totally vanquished, a prisoner,
and in chains. The king was required to attaint and except
from a general pardon forty of the most considerable of his
English subjects and nineteen of his Scottish, together with,
all popish recusants in both kingdoms who had borne arms
for him. It was insisted that forty-eight more, with all the
members who had sat in either house at Oxford, all lawyers
and divines who had embraced the king's party, should be
rendered incapable of any office, be forbidden the exercise
of their profession, be prohibited from coming within the
verge of the court, and forfeit the third of their estates to
the Parliament. It was required that whoever had borne
arms for the king should forfeit the tenth of their estates, or,
M Dugdale, p. 877. to Dugdale, pp. 826, 827.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 407
if that did not suffice, the sixth, for the payment of public
debts. As if royal authority were not sufficiently annihilat-
ed by such terms, it was demanded that the court of wards
should be abolished ; that all the considerable officers of the
crown, and all the judges, should be appointed by Parlia-
ment ; and that the right of peace and war should not be
exercised without the consent of that assembly.^" The Pres-
byterians, it must be confessed, after insisting on such con-
ditions-, differed only in words from the Independents, who
required the establishment of a pure republic. When the
debates had been carried on to no purpose during twenty
days among the commissioners, they separated, and re-
turned ; those of the king to Oxford, those of the Parliament
to London.
A little before the commencement of this fruitless treaty,
a deed was executed by the Parliament which proved their
determined resolution to yield nothing, but to proceed in
the same violent and imperious manner with which they had
at first entered on these dangerous enterprises. Archbishop"
Laud, the most favorite minister of the king, was brought to
the scaffold ; and in this instance the public might see that
popular assemblies, as by their very number they are in a
great measure exempt from the restraint of shame, so, when
they also overleap the bounds of law, naturally break out
into acts of the greatest tyranny and injustice.
From the time that Laud had been committed, the House
of Commons, engaged in enterprises of greater moment, had
found no leisure to finish 'his impeachment ; and he had
patiently endured so long .an imprisonment without being
brought to any trial. After the union with Scotland, the
bigoted prejudices of that nation revived the like spirit in
England ; and the sectaries resolved to gratify their ven-
geance in the punishment of this prelate, who had so long,
by his authority and by the execution of penal laws, kept
their zealous spirit under confinement. He was accused of
high treason in endeavoring to subvert the fundamental
laws, and of other high crimes and misdemeanors. The
same illegality of an accumulative crime and a constructive
evidence which appeared in the case of Strafford, the same
violence and iniquity in conducting the trial, are conspicuous
throughout the whole course of this prosecution. The
groundless charge of popery, though belied by his whole life
and conduct, was continually urged against the prisoner ;
«" Rushworth, vol vi. p 850 Dugdale, p. 737.
408 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
and every error rendered unpardonable by this imputation,
which was supposed to imply the height of all enormities.
" This man, my lords," said Sergeant Wilde, concluding his
long speech against him, " is like Naaman the Syrian — a
great man, but a leper." "
We shall not enter into a detail of this matter, which at
present seems to admit of little controversy. It suffices to
say that, after a long trial and the examination of above
a hundred and fifty witnesses, the Commons found so little
likelihood of obtaining a judicial sentence against Laud that
they were obliged to have recourse to their legislative
authority, and to pass an ordinance for taking away the life
of this aged prelate. Notwithstanding the low condition
into which the House of Peers was fallen, there appeared
some intention of rejecting this ordinance ; and the popular
leaders were again obliged to apply to the multitude, and to
extinguish, by threats of new tumults, the small remains of
liberty possessed by the upper House. Seven peers alone
voted in this important question. The rest, either fi"om
shame or fear, took care to absent themselves.*'
Laud, who had behaved during his trial with spirit and
vigor of genius, sank not under the horrors of his execu-
tion ; but though he had usually professed himself appre-
hensive of a violent death, he found all his fears to be dis-
sipated before that superior courage by which he was
animated. "No one," said he, "can be more willing to
send me out of life than I am desirous to go." Even upon
the scaffold, and during the intervals of his prayers, he was
harassed and molested by Sir John Clotworthy, a zealot of
the reigning sect, and a great leader in the lower House.
This was the time he chose for examining the principlee of
the dying prelate, and trepanning him into a confession
that he trusted for his salvation to the merits of good works,
not to the death of the Redeemer.*'* Having extricated
himself from these theological toils, the archbishop laid his
head on the block, and it was severed from his body at one
blow." Those religious opinions for which he suffered con-
tributed, no doubt, to the courage and constancy of his end.
Sincere he undoubtedly was, and, however misguided, actu-
ated by pious motives in all his pursuits ; and it is to be
regretted that a man of such spirit, who conducted his en-
terprises with so much warmth and industry, had not
" Eushworth, vol. vi. p. 830. /n Wavwick n 169
«3 Kusliworth, Tol. vi, pp. 838, 839. « July 12, left. '
HISTORY OT- ENGLAND. 409
entertained more enlarged views, and embraced principles
more favorable to the general happiness of society.
The great and important advantage which the party-
gained by Strafford's death may in some degree palliate the
iniquity of the sentence pronounced against him. But the [
execution of this old, infirm prelate, who had so long re- ;
mained an inoffensive prisoner, can be ascribed to nothing I
but vengeance and bigotry in those severe religionists by |
whom the Parliament was entirely governed. That he de- j
served a better fate was not questioned by any reasonable
man ; the degree of his merit, in other respects, was dis-
puted. Some accused him of recommending slavish doc-
trines, of promoting persecution, and of encouraging super-
stition ; while others thought that his conduct in these three
particulars would admit of apology and extenuation.
That the letter of the law, as much as the most flaming
court sermon, inculcates passive obedience-is apparent. And
though the spirit of a limited government seems to require,
in extraordinary cases, some mitigation of so rigorous a doc-
trine, it must be confessed that the preceding genius of the
English constitution had rendered. a mistake in this particu-
lar very natural and excusable. To inflict death, at least,
on those who depart from the exact line of truth in these
. nice questions, so far from being favorable to national
liberty, savors strongly of the spirit of tyranny and pro-
scription.
Toleration had hitherto been so little the principle of
any Christian sect that even the Catholics, the remnant of
the religion professed by their forefathers, could not obtain
■ from the English the least indulgence. This very House of
Commons, in their famous remonstrance, took care to justify
themselves, as from the highest imputation, from any inten-
tion to relax the golden reins of discipline, as they called
them, or to grant any toleration ; ** and the enemies of the
Church were so fair from the beginning as not to lay claim
to liberty of conscience, which they called a toleration for
soul-murder. They openly challenged the superiority, and
even menaced the Established Church with that persecution
which they afterwards exercised against her with such
severity. And if the question be considered in the view of
policy, though a sect already formed and advanced may
with good reason demand a toleration, what title had the
Puritans to this indulgence, who were juat on the point of
^ Nalson, vol. ii- p 705.
410 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
separation from the Church, and whom, it might be hoped,
some wholesome and legal severities would still retain in
obedience ?^^
Whatever ridicule, to a philosophical mind, may be
thi'own on pious ceremonies, it must be confessed that,
during a very religious age, no institutions can be more ad-
vantageous to the rude multitude, and tend more to mollify
that fierce and gloomy spirit of devotion to which they are
subject. Even the English Church, though it had retained
- a share of popish ceremonies, may justly be thought too
naked and unadorned, and still to approach too near the
abstract and spiritual religion of the Puritans. Laud and
his associates, by reviving a few primitive institutions of
this nature, corrected the error of the first reformers, and
presented to the affrightened and astonished mind some sen-
sible, exterior observances which might occupy it during its
religious exercises, and abate the violence of its disappointed
efforts. The thought, no longer bent on that divine and
mysterious essence so superior to the narrow capacities of
mankind, was able, by means of the new model of devotion,
to relax itself in the contemplation of pictures, postures,
vestments, buildings.; and all the fine arts which minister to
religion thereby received additional encouragement. The
primate, it is true, conducted this scheme, not with the en-
larged sentiments and cool reflection of a legislator, but with
the intemperate zeal of a sectary ; and, by overlooking the
circumstances of the times, served rather to inflame that re-
ligious fury which he meant to repress. But this blemish is
more to be regarded as a general imputation on the whole
age than any particular failing of Laud's ; and it is sufficient
for his vindication to observe that his errors were the most
excusable of all those which prevailed during that zealous
period.
^ See note [BB] at the end of the volume.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 411
CHAPTER LVIII.
MONTEOsE'S TICTOEIES. THE NEW MODEL OP THE ARMY.
BATTLE OP NASEBY. SUEKENDEE OP BEISTOL. THE
WEST CONQUEEED BY PAIRFAX. DEFEAT OP MONT-
EOSE. ECCLESIASTICAL APFAIES. KING GOES TO THE
SCOTS AT NEWARK. END OF THE WAE. KING DELIV-
EEED UP BY THE SCOTS.
While the king's affairs declined in England, some
events happened in Scotland which seemed to promise him
a more prosperous issue of the quarrel.
[1645.] Before the commencement of these civil dis-
orders, the Earl of Montrose, a young nobleman of a distin-
guished family, returning from his travels, had been intro-
duced to the king, and had made an offer of his services ;
but by the insinuations of the Marquis, afterwards Duke,
of Hamilton, wlio possessed much of Charles's confidence,
he had not been received with that distinction to which he
thought himself justly entitled.^ Disgusted with this treat-
ment, he had forwarded all the violence of the Covenanters ;
and, agreeably to the natural ardor of his genius, he had em-
ployed himself during the first Scottish insurrection with
great zeal as well as success in levying and conducting their
armies. Being commissioned by the Tables to wait upon
the king while the royal army lay at Berwick, he was ,so
gained by the civilities and caresses of that monarch that he
thenceforth devoted himself entirely, though secretly, to' his
service, and entered into a close correspondence with him.
In the second insurrection, a great military command was
intrusted to him by the Covenanters ; and he was the first
that passed the Tweed, at the head of their troops, in the in-
vasion of England. He found means, however, soon after
to convey a letter to the king ; and by the infidelity of some;
about that prince (Hamilton, as was suspected), a copy of
this letter was sent to Leven, the Scottish general. Being
accused of treachery and a correspondence with the enemy,
Montrose openly avowed the letter, and asked the generals
' Nalsoii, lutr. p. 63.
412 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
if they daved to call their sovereign an enemy ; and by his
bold and magnanimous behavior he escaped the danger of
an immediate prosecution. As he was now fully known to
be of the royal party, he no longer concealed his principles ;
and he endeavored to draw those who had entertained like
sentiments into a bond of association for his master's ser-
vice. Though thrown into prison for this enterprise,^ and
detained some time, he was not discouraged, but still con-
tinued, by his countenance and protection, to infuse spirit
into the distressed royalists. Among other persons of dis-
tinction who united themselves to him was Lord Napier, of
Merchiston, son of the famous inventor of the logarithms,
the person to whom the title of great man is more justly
due than to any other whom his country ever produced.
There was in Scotland another party who, professing
equal attachment to the king's service, pretended only to
differ with Montrose about the means of attaining the same
end ; and of that party Duke Hamilton was the leader.
This nobleman had cause to be extremely devoted to the
king, not only by reason of the connection of blood, which
united him to the royal family, but on account of the great
confidence and favor with which he had ever been honored
by his master. Being accused by Lord Rae, not without
some appearance of probability, of a conspiracy against
the king, Charles was so far from harboring suspicion
against him that the very first time Hamilton came to court
he received him into his bedchamber, and passed alone
the night with him.' But such was the. duke's unhappy
fate or conduct that he escaped not the imputation of
treachery to his friend and sovereign ; and though he at
last sacrificed his life in the king's service, his integrity
and sincerity have not been thought by historians entirely
free from blemish. Perhaps (and this is the more probable
opinion) the subtleties and refinements of his conduct and
his temporizing maxims, though accompanied with good in-
tentions, have been the chief cause of a suspicion which lias
never yet been either fully proved or refuted. As much as
the bold and vivid spirit of Montrose prompted him to en-
terprising measures, as much was the cautious temper of
Hamilton inclined to such as were moderate and dilatory.
2 It is not improper to take notice of a mistake committed by Clarendon, much
to tlie disadvantage oE tliis gallant nobleman— that lie offered the king, when his
majesty was in Scotland, to assassinate Argyle. All the time the kinc was iu
Scotland, Montrose was conHned to prison. — ilushworth, vol. vi. p. 980. ^
s Nalson, vol. ii. p. C83.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND, 413
While the former foretold that the Scottish Covenanters
were secretly forming a union with the English Parliament,
and inculcated the necessity of preventing them by some
vigorous undertaking, the latter still insisted that every such
attempt would precipitate them into measures to which,
otherwise, they were not, perhaps, inclined. After the Scot-
tish convention was summoned, without the king's author-
ity, the former exclaimed that their intentions were now
visible, and that, if some unexpected blow were not struck
to dissipate them, they would arm the whole nation against
the king; the latter maintained the possibility of outvoting
the' disaffected party, and securing by peaceful means the
allegiance of the kingdom.* Unhappily for the royal cause,
Hamilton's representations met with more credit from the
king and queen than those of Montrose ; and the Covenant-
ers were allowed, without interruption, to pi'oceed in all
their hostile measures. Monti'ose then hastened to Oxford,
where his invectives against Hamilton's treachery, concur-
ring with the general prepossession, and supported by the
unfortunate event of his counsels, were entertained with
universal approbation. Influenced by the clamor of his •
party more than his own suspicions, Charles, as soon as
Hamilton appeared, sent him prisoner to Pendennis Castle,
in Cornwall. His brother, Laneric, who was also put under
confinement, found means to make his escape and fly into
Scotland.
The king's ears were now opened to Montrose's coun-
sels, who proposed none but the boldest and most daring,
agreeably to the desperate state of the royal cause in Scot-
land. Though the whole nation was subjected by the Cov-
enanters, though great armies were kept on foot by them,
and every place guarded by a vigilant administration, he
undertook, by his own credit and that of the few friends
who remained to the king, to raise such commotions as
would soon oblige the malcontents to recall those forces
which had so sensibly thrown the balance in favor of the
Parliament.' Ifot discouraged with the defeat at Marston
Moor, which rendered it impossible for him to draw any
succor from England, he was content to stipulate with the
Earl of Antrim, a nobleman of Ireland, for some supply of
men from that country. And he himself, changing his dis-
guises and passing through many dangers, arrived in Scot-
» Clarendon, volMii. pp. 380, 381. EuslaworUi, vol. vl. p. 980. Wishart, cap. 2.
" Wishart, cap. 3.
414 HISTORY OP ENGLAND,
land, where he lay concealed in the borders of the High-
lands, and secretly prepared the minds of his partisans for
attempting some great enterprise.^
No sooner were the Irish landed, though not exceeding
eleven hundred foot, very ill armed, than Montrose declared
himself, and entered upon that scene of action which has
rendered his name so celebrated. About eight hundred of
the men of Athole flocked to his standard. Five hundred
men more, who had been levied by the Covenanters, were
persuaded to embrace the royal cause ; and with this com-
bined force he hastened to attack Lord Elcho, who lay at
Perth with an army of six thousand men, assembled upon
the first news of the Irish invasion. Montrose, inferior in
number, totally unpi-ovided with horse, ill supjilied with
arms and ammunition, had nothing to depend on but the
courage which he himself, by his own example and the
rapidity of his enterprises, sliould inspire into his raw sol-
diers. Plaving received the fire of the enemy, wliich was
chiefly answered by a volley of stones, he rushed amid them
with his sword drawn, thre-w them into confusion, ])ushed
his advantage, and obtained a comulete victory, with the
slaughter of two thousand of tlie Covenanters.'
Tliis victory, though it augmented the renown of Mont-
rose, increased not his power or numbers. The far greater
part of the kingdom was extremely attached to the coven-
ant, and such as bore an affection to the royal cause were
terrified by the established authority of the opposite party.
Dreading the superior power of Argyle, Avho, having joined
his vassals to a force levied by the public, was approaching
with a considerable army, Montrose hastened northwards,
in order to rouse again the Marquis of Huntley and the Gor-
dons, who, having before hastily taken arms, had been in-
stantly suppressed by the Covenanters. He was joined on
his march by the Earl of Airly, with his two younger sons,
Sir Thomas and Sir David Ogilvy — the eldest was at that
time prisoner with the enemy. He attacked at Aberdeen
the Lord Burley, who commanded a force of two thousand
five hundred men. After a sharp combat, by his undaunted
courage, which in his situation was true policy, and was
also not unaccompanied with military skill, he put the
enemy to flight, and in the pursuit did great execution upon
them.*
« Clarendon, vol. v. p. CIS. Kushwortli, vol. vi. p. 982. Wishart, cap. 4.
' September 1, 1644. Knshwortli, vol. vi. p. 98:!. V^isliart, cap. 5.
» September 11, 1614. Kushwortli, vol. vi. p. 983. WisUavt, cap. T.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 415
But by this second advantage he obtained not the end
which he expected. The envious nature of Huntley, jealous
of Montrose's glory, rendered him averse to join an army
where he himself must be so much eclipsed by the superior
merit of the general. Argyle, reinforced by the Earl of
Lothian, was behind him with a great army ; the militia of
the northern counties, Murray, Ross, Caithness, to the num-
ber of five thousand men, opposed him in front, and guarded
the banks of the Spey, a deep and rapid river. In order to
elude these numerous armies, he turned aside into the hills,
and saved his weak but active troops in Badenoch. After
some marches and counter-marches, Argyle came up with
him at Faivy Castle. This nobleman's character, though
celebrated for political courage and conduct, was very low
for military prowess ; and after some skirmishes, in which
he was worsted, he here allowed Montrose to escape him.
By quick marches through these inaccessible mountains,
that general freed himsielf from the superior forces of the
Covenanters.
Such was the situation of Montrose that very good or
very ill fortune was equally destructive to him, and dimin-
ished his army. After every victory, his soldiers, greedy
of spoil, but deeming the smallest acquisition to be unex-
hausted riches, deserted in great numbers, and went home
to secure the treasure which they had acquired. Tired too,
and spent with hasty and long marches in the depth of win-
ter, through snowy mountains, unprovided with every neces-
sary, they fell off, and left their general almost alone with
the Irish, who, having no place to which they could retire,
still adhered to him in every fortune.
With these and some reinforcements of the Athole men
and Macdonalds, whom he had recalled, Montrose fell sud-
denly upon Argyle's country, and let loose upon it all the
rage of war, caiTying off the cattle, burning the houses, and
putting the inhabitants to the sword. This severity by
which Montrose sullied his victories was the result of pri-
vate animosity against the chieftain as much as of zeal for
the public cause. Argyle, collecting three thousand men,
marched in quest of the enemy, who had retired with their
plunder ; and he lay at Innerlochy, supposing himself still
at a considerable distance from them. The Earl of Seaforth,
at the head of the garrison of Inverness, who were veteran
soldiers, joined to five thousand new-levied troops of the
northern counties, pressed the royalists on the other side,
.416 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
and threatened them with inevitable destruction. By a
quick and unexpected March, Montrose hastened to Inner-
lochy, and presented himself in order of battle before the
surprised but not affrightened Covenanters. Argylg alone,
.seized with a panic, deserted his army, who still main tamed
their ground, and gave battle to the royalists. After a
vio'orous resistance, they were defeated and pursued with
great slaughter.^ And the power of the Campbells— that
is, Argyle's name — being thus broken, the Highlanders, who
were in general well affected to the royal cause, began to
join Montrose's camp in great numbers. Seaforth's army
dispersed of itself, at the very terror of his name; and
Lord Gordon, eldest son of Huntley, having escaped from
his uncle Argyle, who had hitherto detained him, now
joined Montrose, with no contemptible number of his follow-
ers, attended by his brother, the Earl of Aboine.
The council at Edinburgh, alarmed at Montrose's pro-
gress, began to think of a more regular plan of defence
against an enemy whose repeated victories had rendered
him extremely formidable. They sent for Baillie, an officer
of reputation from England ; and joining him in command
with Urrey, who had again enlisted himself among the king's
enemies, they sent them to the field with a considerable
army against the royalists. Montrose, with a detachment
of eight hundred men, had attacked Dundee, a town ex-
tremely zealous for the covenant, and having carried it by
assault, had delivered it up to be plundered by his soldiers ;
when Baillie and Urrey, with their whole force, were unex-
pectedly upon him.^" His conduct and presence of mind in
this emergency apfieared conspicuous. Instantly he called
off his soldiers from plunder, put them in order, secured his
retreat by the most skilful measures ; and having marched
sixty miles in the face of an enemy much superior, without
stopping or allowing his soldiers the least sleep or refresh-
ment, he at last secured himself in the mountains.
Baillie and Urrey now divided their troops, in order the
better to conduct the war against an enemy who surprised
them as much by the rapidity of his marches as by the bold-
ness of his enterprises. Urrey, at the head of four thou-
sand men, met him at Alderne, near Inverness ; and encour-
aged by the superiority of number (for the Covenanters
were double the royalists), attacked him in the post which
« Eushworth, vol. vi. p. 985. Wisliart, cap. 8.
10 KuBhwoi'tU, vol. vii. p. 2:i8. Wishart, cap. 9.
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 417
he ha^ chosen. Montrose, having placed his right wing in
strong ground, drew the best of his forces to the other, and
left no main body between them — a defect which he art-
fully concealed by showing a few men through the trees and
bushes with which the ground was covered. That Urrey
might have no leisure to perceive the stratagem, he in-
stantly led his left wing to the charge ; and making a furi-
ous impression upon the Covenanters, drove them off the
field, and gained a complete victory." In this battle the
valor of young ISTapier, son to the lord of that name, shone
out with signal lustre.
Baillie now advanced in order to revenge TJrrey's dis-
comfiture ; but at Alford he met, himself, with a like fate.^^
Montrose, weak in cavalry, here lined his troops of horse
with infantry ; and after putting the enemy's horse to rout,
fell with united force upon their foot, who were entirely cut
in pieces, though with the loss of the gallant Lord Gordon
on the part of the royalists.^' And having thus prevailed in
BO many battles which his vigor ever rendered as decisive
as they were successful, he summoned together all his
friends and partisans, and prepared himself for marching
into the southern provinces, in order to put a final period
to the power of the Covenanters, and dissipate the Parlia-
ment which, with great pomp and solemnity, they had sum-
moned to meet at St. Johnstone's.
While the fire was thus kindled in the north of the
island, it blazed out with no less fury in the south. The
parliamentary and royal armies, as soon as the season would
permit, prepared to take the field, in hopes of bringing their
important quarrel to a quick decision. The passing of the
self-denying ordinance had been protracted by so many de-
bates and intrigues that the spring was far advanced before
it received the sanction of both Houses ; and it was thought
dangerous by many to introduce, so near the time of action,
such great innovations into the army. Had not the punc-
tilious principles of Essex engaged him, amid all the dis-
gusts which he received, to pay implicit obedience to the
Parliament, this alteration had pot been effected without
some fatal accident, since, notwithstanding his prompt res-
ignation of the command, a mutiny was generally appre-
hended." Fairfax, or, more projjerly speaking, Cromwell,
" Eushworth, Tol. vii. p. 229. Wishart, cap. 10. " July 2.
•3 Rushworth, vol. vii. p. 229. Wishart, cap. 11.
" Eushworth, vol. vii. pp. 126, 127.
Vol. IV.— 27
418 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
under his name, introduced at last the new model into the
army, and threw the troops into a different shape. From
the same men, new regiments and new companies were
formed, different officers appointed, and the whole military
force put into such hands as the Independents could rely
on. Besides members of Parliament who were excluded,
many officers, unwilling to serve under the new generals,
threw up their commissions, and unwarily facilitated the
project of putting the army entirely into the hands of that
faction.
Though the discipline of the former parliamentary army
was not contemptible, a more exact plan was introduced
and rigorously executed by these new commanders. Valor
indeed was very generally diffused over the one party as
well as the other during this period ; discipline also was at-
tained by the forces of the Parliament ; but the perfection
of the military art in concerting the general plans of action
and the operations of the field seems still, on both sides, to
have been in a great measure wanting. Historians, at least,
perhaps from their own ignorance and inexperience, have
not remarked anything but a headlong, impetuous conduct ;
each party hurrying to a battle, where valor and fortune
chiefly determined the success. The great ornament of his-
tory during these reigns, are the civil, not the military trans-
actions.
Never, surely, was a more singular army assembled than
that which was now set on foot by the Parliament. To the
greater number of the regiments chaplains were not ap-
pointed. The officers assumed the spiritual duty, and united
it with their military functions. During the intervals of
action, they occupied themselves with sermons, prayers, ex-
hortations ; and the same emulation there attended them
which in the field is so necessary to support the honor of
that profession. Rapturous ecstasies supplied the place of
study and reflection ; and while the zealous devotees poured
out their thoughts in unpremeditated harangues, they mis-
took that eloquence which, to their own surprise as well as
that of others, flowed in upon them for divine illumina-
tions and for illapses of the Holy Spirit. Wherever they
were quartered, they excluded the minister from his pulpit ;
and, usurping his place, conveyed their sentiments to the
audience with all the authority which followed their power,
their valor, and their military exploits, united to their ap-
pearing zeal and fervor. The private soldiers, seized with
HISTOET OP ENGLAND. , 419
the snme spirit, employed their vacant hours in prayer, in
perusing the Holy Scriptures, in ghostly conferences, where
they compared the progress of their souls in grace, and mu-
tually stimulated each other to further advances in the
great work of their salvation. When they were marching
to battle, the whole field resounded as well with psalms and
sjiiritual songs adapted to the occasion as with the instru-
ments of military music ; " and every man endeavored to
drown the sense of present danger in the prospect of that
crown of glory which was set before him. In so holy a
cause, wounds were esteemed meritorious ; death, martyr-
dom ; and the hurry and dangers of action, instead of ban-
ishing their pious visions, rather served to impress their
minds more strongly with them.
The royalists were desirous of throwing a ridicule on
this fanaticism of the parliamentary armies without being
sensible how much reason they had to apprehend its dan-
gerous consequences. The forces assembled by the king at
Oxford in the west, and in other places, were equal, if not
superior, in number to their adversaries, but actuated by a
very different spirit. That license which had been intro-
duced by want to pay had risen to a great height among
them, and rendered them more formidable to their friends
than to their enemies. Prince Ru])ert, negligent of the
people, fond of the soldiery, had indulged the troops in un-
warrantable liberties. Wilmot, a man of dissolute manners,
had promoted the same spirit of disorder; and the licen-
tious Goring, Gerrard, Sir Richard Granville, now carried
it to a great pitch of enormity. In the west especially,
where Goring commanded, universal spoil and havoc were
committed ; and the whole country was laid waste by the
rapine of the army. All distinction of parties being in a
manner dropped, the most devoted friends of the Church
and monarchy wished there for such success to the parlia^
mentary forces as might put an end to these oppressions.
The country people, despoiled of their substance, flocked
together in several places, armed with clubs and staves ;
and, though they professed an enmity to the soldiers of both
parties, their hatred was in most places levelled chiefly
against the royalists, from whom they had met with the
worst treatment. Many thousands of these tumultuary
peasants were assembled in different parts of England, who
" Dngdale, p. 7. Kushworth vol. vi, p. 281.
420 HISTOEY OP ENGLAND.
destroyed all such straggling soldiers as they met with, and
jnuch infested the armies."
The disposition of the forces on both sides was as fol-
lows : part of the Scottish army was employed in taking
Pomfret and other towns in Yorkshire ; part of it besieged
Carlisle, valiantly defended by Sir Thomas Glenham. Ches-
ter, where Biron commanded, had long been blockaded by
Sir William Brereton, and was reduced to great difficulties.
The king, being joined by the Princes Rupert and Maurice,
lay at Oxford with a considerable army, about fifteen thou-
sand men. Fairfax and Cromwell were posted at Windsor
with the new-modelled army, about twenty-two thousand
men. Taunton, in the county of Somerset, defended by
Blake, suffered a long siege from Sir Richard Granville,
who commanded an army of about eight thousand men;
and, though the defence had been obstinate, the garrison
was now reduced to the last extremity. Goring com-
manded, in the west, an army of nearly the same number.*'
On opening the campaign, the king formed the project
of relieving Chester; Fairfax, that of relieving Taunton.
The king was first in motion. When he advanced to
Draiton, in Shropshire, Biron met him, and brought intel-
ligence that his approach had raised the siege, and that
the parliamentary army had withdrawn. Fairfax, having
reached Salisbury in his road westward, received orders
from the committee of both kingdoms, appointed for the
management of the war, to return and lay siege to Oxford,
now exposed by the king's absence. He obeyed, after
sending Colonel Weldon to the west with a detachment of
four thousand men. On Weldon's approach, Granville,
who imagined that Fairfax with his whole army was upon
him, raised the siege and allowed this pertinacious town,
now half taken and half burned, to receive relief ; but the
royalists being reinforced with three thousand horse under
Goring, again advanced to Taunton and shut up Weldon,
with his small army, in that ruinous place.*^
The king, having effected his purpose with regard to
Chester, returned southwards; and in his way sat down
before Leicester, a garrison of the Parliament's. Having
made a breach in the wall, he stormed the town on all
sides ; and . after a furious assault, the soldiers entered
i» Eushworth, vol. vli. pp. m, 61, 62. Whitlocke, pp. 130, 131 ]33 135 clar-
endon, TOl. V. p. 665. " Eusliwoi-th, vol. vii nu 'is 19 ete^
i» Eusliwortb, vol. vii. p. 28 ^^ ' '
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 421
sword in hand, and committed all those disorders to which
their natural violence, especially when inflamed by resist-
ance, is so much addicted.^' A great booty was taken and
distributed among them ; fifteen hundred prisoners fell into
the king's hands. This success, which struck a great terror
into the parliamentary party, determined Fairfax to leave
Oxford, which he was beginning to approach; and he
marched towards the king with an intention of offering
him battle. The king was advancing towards Oxford, in
order to raise the siege, which he apprehended was now
begun ; and both armies, ere they were aware, had ad-
vanced within six miles of each other. A council of war
was called by the king in order to deliberate concerning
the measures which he should now pursue. On the one
hand, it seemed more prudent to delay the combat, because
Gerrard, who lay in Wales with three thousand men, might
be enabled, in a little time, to join the army ; and Goring,
it was hoped, would soon be master of Taunton ; and hav-
ing put the west in full security, would then unite his forces
to those of the king, and give him an incontestable superi-
ority over the enemy. On the other hand, Prince Rupert,
whose boiling ardor still pushed him on to battle, excited
the impatient humor of the nobility and gentry, of which
the army was full, and urged the many difiiculties under
which the royalists labored, and from which nothing but a
victory could relieve them. The resolution was taken to
give battle to Fairfax, and the royal army immediately
advanced upon him.
At Naseby was fought, with forces nearly equal, this
decisive and well-disputed action between the king and
Parliament. The main body of the royalists was com-
manded by the king himself ; the right wing by Prince
Rupert ; the left by Sir Marmaduke Langdale. Fairfax,
seconded by Skippon, placed himself in the main body of
the opposite army ; Cromwell in the right wing ; Ireton,
Cromwell's son-in-law, in the left. The charge was begun,
with his usual celerity and usual success, by Prince Rufiort.
Though Ireton made stout resistance, and, even after he
was run through the thigh with a pike, still maintained the
combat till he was taken prisoner, yet was that whole wing
broken and pursued with precipitate fury by Rupert. He
was even so inconsiderate as to lose time in summoning and
attacking the artillery of the enemy, which had been left
i» Clarendou, vol. v. p. 6B2.
422 HiSTOET or England.
with a good guard of infantry. The king led on his main
body, and displayed in this action all the conduct of a pru-
dent general, and all the valor of a stout soldier.™ Fairfax
and Skippon encountered him, and well supported that
reputation which they had acquired. Skippon being dan-
gerously wounded, was desired by Fairfax to leave the
field ; but he declared that he would remain there as long
as one man maintained his ground.''^ The infantry of the
Parliament was broken, and pressed upon by the king, till
Fairfax, with great presence of mind, brought up the
reserve and renewed the combat. Meanwhile, Cromwell,
having led on his troops to the attack of Langdale, overbore
the force of the royalists, and by his prudence improved
that advantage which he had gained by his valor. Having
pursued the enemy about a quarter of a mile, and detached
some troops to prevent their rallying, he turned back upon
the king's infantry and threw them into the utmost con-
fusion. One regiment alone preserved its order unbroken,
though twice desperately assailed by Fairfax; and that
general, excited by so steady a resistance, ordered Doyley,
the captain of his lifeguard, to give them a third charge in
front, while ho liiiriself attacked them in rear. The regi-
ment was broken. Fairfax, with his own hands, killed an
ensign, and, having seized the colors, gave them to a soldier
to keep for him. The soldier, afterwards boasting that he
had won this trophy, was reproved by Doyley, who had
seen the action : " Let him retain that honor," said Fair-
fax ; " I have to-day acquired enough besides." ^^
i Prince Rupert, sensible too late of his error, left the
fruitless attack on the enemy's artillery and joined the
king, whose infantry was now totally discomfited. Charles
•exhorted this body of cavalry not to despair, and cried
aloud to them, "One charge more and we recover the
day ! " ^' But the disadvantages under which they labored
were too evident, and they could by no means be induced
to renew the combat. Charles was obliged to quit the field
and leave the victory to the enemy.^* The slain on the
side of the Parliament exceeded those on the side of the
king. They lost a thousand men ; he not above eiglit hun-
dred ; but Fairfax made five hundred officers prisoners, and
four thousand private men, took all the king's artillery and
2» Wbitlocke, p. 146. ^' Kushwortti, vol. vii. p. 43. Wliitlocke p 143.
!2 Wbitlooke, p. 145. ra Kushworth, vol. vii. v 44.
« Clarendon, vol. Iv. pp. 666, 667. Walker, pp. 130, 131.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 423
ammunition, and totally dissipated his infantry, so tliat
scarce any victory could be more complete than that which
he obtained.
Among the other spoils was seized the king's cabinet,
with the copies of his letters to the queen, which the Parlia-
ment afterwards ordered to be published.''' They chose, no
doubt, such of them as they thought would reflect dishonor
on him ; yet, upon the whole, the letters are written with
delicacy and tenderness, and give an advantageous idea
both of the king's genius and morals. A mighty fondness,
it is true, and attachment he expresses to his consort, and
often professes that he never would embrace any measures
which she disapproved; but such declarations of civility
and confidence are not always to be taken in a full literal
sense. And so legitimate an affection, avowed by the laws
of God and man, may perhaps be excusable towards a
woman of beauty and spirit, even though she was a Papist.^"
The Athenians, having intercepted a letter written by
their enemy, Philip of Macedon, to his wife Olympia, so far
from being moved by a curiosity of prying into the secrets
of that relation, immediately sent the letter to the queen un-
opened. Philip was not their sovereign, nor were they in-
flamed with that violent animosity against him which at-
tends all civil commotions.
After the battle, the king retreated with that body of
horse which remained entire, first to Hereford, then to
Abergavenny, and remained some time in Wales, from the
vain hope of raising a body of infantry in those harassed
and exhausted quarters.^-^airfax, having first retaken Lei-
cester, which was surrendered upon articles, began to delib-
erate concerning his future enterprises. A letter was
brought him written by Goring to the king, and unfor-
tunately intrusted to a spy of Fairfax's. Goring there in-
formed the king that in three weeks he hoped to be master
of Taunton, after which he would join his majesty with all
the forces in the west ; and entreated him, in the mean-
25 Clarendon, vol. iv. p. 658.
!" Hearne has published the following extract from a manuscript work of Sir
Simon D'Ewes, who was no mean man in the parliamentary party : " On Thurs-
day, the 30th and last day of this instant, June, 1625, 1 went to Whitehall, pur-
posely to see the queen, which I did fully all the time she sat at dinner. I per-
ceiv'd her to be a most absolute delicate lady, after I had exactly survey'd all the
features of her face, much enlivened by her radiant and sparkling black eyes.
Besides, her deportment among her women was so sweet and humble, aud her
speech and looks to her other servants so mild and gi'acious, as I could not ab-
stain from divers deep-fetched sighs, t« consider that she wanted the kuowledga
of the true religion." See Preface to the Chronicle of Dunstable, p. £4.
424 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
while, to avoid coming to any general action. This letter,
which, had it been safely delivered, had probably prevented
the battle of Naseby, served now to direct the operations of
Fairfax.^' After leaving a body of three thousand men to
Pointz and Rossiter, with orders to attend the king's mo-
tions, he marched immediately to the west, with a view of
saving Taunton and suppressing the only considerable force
which now remained to the royalists.
In the beginning of the campaign, Charles, apprehensive
of the event, had sent the Prince of Wales, then fifteen years
of age, to the west, with the title of general, and had given
orders, if he were pressed by the enemy, that he should
make his escape into a foreign country and save one part of
the royal family from the violence of the Parliament.
Prince Rupert had thrown himself into Bristol with an in-
tention of defending that important city. Goring com-
manded the army before Taunton.
On Fairfax's approach the siege of Taunton was raised ;
and the royalists retired to Lamport, an open town in the
county of Somerset. Fairfax attacked them in that post,
beat them from it, killed about three hundred men, and
took one thousand four hundred prisoners.^* After this ad-
vantage he sat down before Bridgewater, a town esteemed
strong and of great consequence in that country. When he
.had entered the outer town by storm, Wyndham, the gov-
pernor, who had retired into the inner, immediately capit-
ulated and delivered up the place to Fairfax. The gar-
rison, to the number of two thousand six hundred men,
were made prisoners of war.
Fairfax, having next taken Bath and Sherborne, resolved
' to lay siege to Bristol, and made great preparations for an
' enterprise which from the strength of the garrison and the
reputation of Prince Rupert the governor, was deemed of
the last importance. But, so precarious in most men is this
quality of military courage, a poorer defence was not made
by any town during the whole war ; and the general expec-
tations were here extremely disappointed. No sooner had
the parliamentary forces entered the lines by storm than the
prince capitulated, and surrendered the city to Fairfax.^'
A few days before, he had written a letter to the king, in
which he undertook to defend the place for four months, if
no mutiny obliged him to surrender it. Charles, who was
27 Rusliworth, vol. vii. p. 49.
^ llushworth, vol. vii. p. 65. '" Kushworth, vol. vii. p. 83.
BISTORT OF ENGLAND, 425
forming schemes, and collecting forces for the relief of Bris-
tol, was astonished at so unexpected an event, -which was
little less fatal to his cause than the defeat at Naseby.^"
Full of indignation, he instantly recalled all Prince Rupert's
commissions and sent him a pass to go beyond sea.^^
The king's affairs now went fast to ruin in all quarters.
The Scots, having made themselves masters of Carlisle,'^
after an obstinate siege marched southwards and laid siege
to Hereford, but were obliged to raise it on the king's
approach ; and this was the last glimpse of success which
attended his arms. Having marched to the relief of
Chester, which was anew besieged by the parliamentary
forces under Colonel Jones, Pointz attacked his rear and
forced him to give battle. While the fight was continued
with great obstinacy, and victory seemed to incline to the
royalists, Jones fell upon them from the other side and put
them to rout, with the loss of six hundred slain and one
thousand prisoners.'' The king, with the remains of his .
broken army, fled to Newark and thence escaped to Oxford,
where he shut himself up during the winter season.
The news which he received from every quarter was no
less fatal than those events which passed where he himself
was present. Fairfax and Cromwell, after the surrender of
Bristol, having divided their forces, the former marched
westwards in order to complete the conquest of Devonshire
and Cornwall ; the latter attacked the king's garrisons
which lay to the east of Bristol. The Devizes were sur-
rendered to Cromwell ; Berkeley Castle was taken by
storm ; Winchester capitulated ; Basing House was entered
sword in hand ; and all these middle counties of England
were in a little time reduced to obedience under the Parlia^
ment.
[1646.] The same rapid and uninterrupted success at-
tended Fairfax. The parliamentary forces, elated by past
victories, governed by the most rigid discipline, met with
no equal opposition from troops dismayed by repeated de-
feats and corrupted by licentious manners. After beating
up the quarters of the royalists at Bovey-Tracey, Fairfax
sat down before Dartmouth, and in a few days entered it by
storm. Poudram Castle being taken by him and Exeter
blockaded on all sides, Hopton, a man of merit, who now
commanded the royalists, having advanced to the relief of
a> Clarendon, toI. Iv. p. 690, Walker, p. 137. »' Clarendon, vol. iv. p. 095.
" June 28. " Kushworth, TOl. vii. p. 117.
426 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
that town with an army of eight thousand men, met with
the parliamentary army at Torrington, where he was de-
feated, all his foot dispersed, and he himself, with his horse,
obliged to retire into Cornwall. Fairfax followed him and
vigorously pursued the victory. Having enclosed the roy-
alists at Truro, he forced the whole army, consisting of five
thousand men, chiefly cavalry, to surrender upon terms.
The soldiers, delivering up their horses and arms, were
allowed to disband, and received twenty shillings apiece to
carry them to their respective abodes. Such of the officers
as desired it had passes to retire beyond sea; the others,
having promised never more to bear arms, paid compositions
to the Parliament '* and procured their pardon.'^ And thus
Fairfax, after taking Exeter, which completed the conquest
of the west, marched with his victorious army to the centre
of the kingdom and fixed his camp at Newbury. The
Prince of Wales, in pursuance of the king's orders, retired
to Scilly, thence to Jersey, whence he went to Paris, where
he joined the queen, who had fled thither from Exeter at
the time the Earl of Essex conducted the parliamentary
army to the west.
In the other parts of England, Hereford was taken by
surprise. Chester surrendered. Lord Digby, who had at-
tempted with one thousand two hundred horse to break into
Scotland and join Montrose, was defeated at Sherburn, in
Yorkshire, by Colonel Copley; his whole force was dis-
persed, and he himself was obliged to fly, first to the Isle of
Man, thence to Ireland. News, too, arrived that Montrose
himself, after some more successes, was at last routed, and
this only remaining hope of the royal party finally extin-
guished.
When Montrose descended into the southern counties,
the Covenanters, assembling their whole force, met him
with a numerous army and gave him battle, but without
success, at Kilsyth.^" This was the most complete victory
that Montrose ever obtained. The royalists put to the
sword six thousand of their enemies, and left the Covenant-
ers no remains of any army in Scotland. The whole king-
dom was shaken with these repeated successes of Montrose ;
and many noblemen who secretly favored the royal cause
^ These compositions were different, according to the demerits of the person j
but by a vote of the House they could not be under two years' rent of the dellu-
quent's estate.— Journal, August 11, 1648. Whitlocke, p. 160.
35 Kushworth, vol. v. ii. p. 108.
»' August 15, 1645.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 427
now declared openly for it when they saw a force able to
support them. The Marquis of Douglas, the Earls of An-
nandale and Hartficld, the Lords Fleming, Seton, Maderty,
Carnegy, with many others, flocked to the royal standard.
Edinhui'gh opened its gates and gave liberty to all the pris-
oners there detained by the Covenanters. Among the rest
was Lord Ogilvy, son of Airly, whose family had contrib-
uted extremely to the victory gained at Kilsyth."
David Lesley was detached from the army in England,
and marched to the relief of his-distressed party in Scotland.
Montrose advanced still farther to the south, allured by vain
hopes both of rousing to arms the Earls of Hume, Traquaire,
and Roxburgh, who had promised to join him, and of ob-
taining from England some supply cf cavalry, in which he
was deficient. By the negligence of his scouts, Lesley, at
Phi'liphaugh in the Forest, surprised his army, much dimin-
ished in numbers, from the desertion of the Highlanders,
who had retired to the hills, according to custom, in order
to secure their plunder. After a sharp conflict, where Mon-
trose exerted great valor, his forces wore routed by Lesley's
cavalry ; ^ and he himself was obliged to fly with his broken
forces into the mountains, where he again prepared himself
for new battles and new enterprises.^
The Covenantei-s used the victory with vigor. Their
prisoners. Sir Robert Spctiswood (secretary of state, and
son to the late primate). Sir Philip Nisbet, Sir William
Rollo, Colonel Nathaniel Gordor, Andrew Guthry (son of
the Bishop of Murray), William Murray (son of the Earl of
Tullibardme), were condemned and executed. The sole
crime imputed to the secretary was his delivering to Mon-
trose the king's commission to be captain-general of Scot-
land. Lord Ogilvy, who was again taken prisoner, would
have undergone the same fate, had not his sister found
means to procure his escape by changing clothes with him.
For this instance of courage and dexterity she met with
harsh usage. The clergy solicited the Parliament that more
royalists might be executed, but could not obtain their re-
quest.*"
After all these repeated disasters which everywhere be-
fell the royal party, there remained only one body of troops
on which fortune could exercise her rigor. Lord Astley,
" Kualiworth. vol. vii. pp. 230, 231. Wiehart, cap. 13.
»8 September 13, 1645. so RusUwortli, TOl. vii. p. 231.
'" Gatliry's Memoirs. Eusliworth, vol. vii. p. 232.
428 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
with a small army of three thousand men, chiefly cavalry,
marching to Oxford in order to join the king, was rnet at
Stowe by Colonel Morgan and entirely defeated, himself
being taken prisoner. " You have done your work," said
Astley to the parliamentary officers, " and may now go to
play, unless you choose to fall out among yourselves." ^
The condition of the king during this whole winter was
to the last degree disastrous and melancholy. As the dread
of ills is commonly more oppressive than their real pres-
ence, perhaps in no period of his life was he more justly the
object of compassion. His vigor of mind, which, though it
sometimes failed him in acting, never deserted him in his
sufferings, was what alone supported him ; and he was de-
termined, as he wrote to Lord Digby, if he could not live
as a king, to die like a gentleman ; nor should any of his
friends, he said, ever have reason to blush for the prince
whom they had so unfortunately served.'" The murmurs of
discontented officers, on the one hand, harassed their un-
happy sovereign, while they overrated those services and
sufferings which they now saw must forever go unre-
warded." The affectionate duty, on the other hand, of his
more generous friends, who respected his misfortunes and
his virtues as much as his dignity, wrung his heart with a
new sorrow, when he reflected that such disinterested at-
tachment would so soon be exposed to the rigor of his im-
placable enemies. Repeated attempts which he made for a
peaceful and equitable accommodation with the Parliament
served to no purpose but to convince them that the victory
was entirely in their hands. They deigned not to make the
least reply to several of his messages, in which he desired a
passport for commissioners.** At last, after reproaching
him with the blood spilled during the war, they told him
that they were preparing bills for him, and his passing them
would be the best pledge of his inclination towards peace ;
in other words, he must yield at discretion." He desired a
personal treaty, and offered to come to London upon receiv-
ing a safe-conduct for himself and his attendants ; they ab-
solutely refused him admittance, and issued orders for the
" Rusliworth, vol. -vli. p. 141. It was the same Astley who. hefore he charged
at the battle of Edgehill, made this short prayer : '• O Lord ! thou knowest how
busy I must be this aay. If I forget thee, do not thou forget me.'" And, with
that, rose up, and cried, " March on, boys ! "—Warwick, p. 229. There were cer-
tainly much longer prayers said in the parliamentary army, but I doubt if there
were so good a one. " Carte's Ormoud, vol. iii. No. 433.
«» Walker, p. 147. « Bushworth, vol. vii. p. 215, etc.
" Kushworth, vol. yii, pp 217, 219. Clarendon, vol, iv. p. 744.
HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. 429
guarding, that is, the seizing, of his person in case he should
attempt to visit them.^' A new incident which happened in
Ireland served to inflame the minds of men and to increase
those calumnies with which his enemies had so much loaded
him and which he ever regarded as the most grievous part
of his misfortunes.
After the cessation with the Irish rebels, the king was ,
desirous of "concluding a final peace with them and obtain-
ing their assistance in England ; and he gave authority to ,
Ormond, lord-lieutenant, to promise them an abrogation of
all the penal laws enacted against Catholics, together with
the suspension of Poining's statute with regard to some par-
ticular bills which should be agreed on. Lord Herbert,
created lEarl of Glamorgan (though his patent had not yet
passed the seals), having occasion for his private affairs to
go to Ireland, the king considered that this nobleman, being
a Catholic, and allied to the best Irish families, might be of
service. He also foresaw that further concession with re-
gard to religion might probably be demanded by the big-
oted Irish ; and that as these concessions, however neces-
sary, would give great scandal to the Protestant zealots in
his three kingdoms, it would be requisite both to conceal
them during some time, and to preserve Ormond's character
by giving private orders to Glamorgan to conclude and sign
these articles. But as he had a better opinion of Glamor-
fan's zeal and affection for his service than of his capacity,
e enjoined him to communicate all his measures to Oiv
mond ; and though the final conclusion of the treaty must
be executed only in Glamorgan's own name, he was required
to be directed in the steps towards it by the opinion of the
lord-lieutenant. Glamorgan, bigoted to his religion and pas-
sionate for the king's service, but guided in these pursuits
by no manner of judgment or discretion, secretly, of him-
self, without any communication with Ormond, concluded a
peace with the council of Kilkenny, and agreed, in the king's
name, that the Irish should enjoy all the churches of which
they had ever been in possession since the commencement
of their insurrection, on condition that they should assist
the king in England with a body of ten thousand men. This
transaction was discovered by accident. The titular Ai-ch-
bishop of Tuam being killed by a sally of the garrison of
Sligo, th rticles of the treaty were found among his bag-
gage, and were immediately published everywhere, and cop-
's Eushworth, vol vH p 249. Clarendon, vol. iv p. 741.
430 HISTORY OF ENGLA.ND.
ies of them sent over to the English Parliament." The
lord-lieutenant and Lord Digby, foreseeing the clamor which
would be raised against the king, committed Glamorgan to
prison, charged him with treason for his temerity, and main-
tained that he had acted altogether without any authority
i from his master. The English Parliament, however, neglected
■not so favorable an opportunity of reviving the whole clamor
W'ith regard to the king's favor of popery, and accused him
of delivering over, in a manner, the whole kingdom of Ire-
•land to that hated sect. The king told them "that the Earl
.of Glamorgan, having made an offer to raise forces in the
kingdom of Ireland and to conduct them into England for
his majesty's service, had a commission to that purpose, and
to that purpose only, and that he had no commrssjion at all
to treat of anything else without the privity and direction
of the lord-lieutenant, much less to capitulate anything con-
cerning religion or any property belonging either to Church
or laity."'*' Though this declaration seems agreeable to
truth, it gave no satisfaction to the Parliament ; and some
historians, even at present, when the ancient bigotry is some-
what abated, are desirous of representing this very innocent
transaction, in which the king was engaged by the most vio-
lent necessity, as a stain on the memory of that unfortunate
prince.^^
Having lost all hope of prevailing over the rigor of the
Parliament either by arms or by treaty, the only resource
which remained to the king was derived from the intestine
dissensions, which ran very high among his enemies. Pres-
byterians and Independents, even before their victory was
fully completed, fell into contests about the division of the
spoil, and their religious as well as civil disputes agitated
the whole kingdom.
The Parliament, though they had early abolished epis-
copal authority, had not, during so long a time, substituted
any other spiritual government in its place ; and their com-
mittees of religion had hitherto assumed the whole ecclesi-
astical jurisdiction ; but they now established, by an ordi-
nance, the Presbyterian model in all its forms of congrega-
tional, classical, provincial, and national assemblies. All
the inhabitants of each parish were ordered to meet and
choose elders, on whom, together with the minister, was
bestowed the entire direction of all spiritual concerns with-
*' Rushworth, vol. vii. p 239,
« Birch, p 119 " See note [CC]at the end of the volume.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND 431
in the congregation. A number of neigiiboring parishes,
commonly between twelve and twenty, formed a classis ;
and the court, which goveirned this division, was composed
of all the ministers, together with two, three, or four elders
chosen from each parish. The provincial assembly retained
an inspection over several neighboring classes, and was com-
posed entirely of clergymen. The national assembly was
constituted in the same manner, and its authority extended
over the whole kingdom. It is probable that the tyranny
exercised by the Scottish clergy had given warning not to
allow laymen a place in the provincial or national assemblies,
lest the pobility and more considerable gentry, soliciting a
Beat in these great ecclesiastical courts, should bestow a
consideration upon them, and render them in the eyes of.,
the multitude a rival to the Parliament. In the inferior
courts, the mixture of the laity might serve rather to temper^;
the usual zeal of the elei'gy.™
But though the Presbyterians, by the establishment of
parity among tfie ecclesiastics, were so far gratified, they
were denied satisfaction in several other points on which they
were extremely intent. The assembly of divines had voted
Presbytery to be of divine right. The Parliament refused
their assent to that decision." Selden, Whitlocke, and other
political reasoners, assisted by the Independents, had pre-
vailed in this important deliberation. They thought that,
had the bigoted religionists been able to get their heavenly
charter recognized, the presbyters would soon become more
dangerous to the magistrate than had ever been the pre-
latical clergy. These latter, while they claim to themselves
a divine right, admitted of a like origin to civil authority ; .
the former, challenging to their own order a celestial pedi-
gree, derived the legislative power from a source no more
dignified than the voluntary association of the people.
Under color of keeping the sacraments from profanation,
the clergy of all Christian sects had assumed what they call
the power of the keys, or the right of f ulmmating excom-
munication. The example of Scotland was a sufficient les-
son for the Parliament to use precaution in guarding against
so severe a tyranny. They determined, by a general ordi-
nance, all the cases in which excommunication could be
used. They allowed of appeals to Parliament from all ec-
clesiastical courts. And they appointed commissioners in
» Enshworth, vol. tH -p. 224.
n Whitlocke, p. 106. Kushwortli. vol vii pp 260, 261.
432 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND.
every province to judge of such cases as fell not within their
general ordinance.^^ So much civil authority, intermixed
with the ecclesiastical, gave disgust to all the zealots.
But nothing was attended with more universal scandal
than the propensity of many in the Parliament towards a
toleration of the Protestant sectaries. The Presbyterians
exclaimed that this indulgence made the Church of Christ
resemble Noah's ark, and rendered it a receptacle for all
unclean beasts. They insisted that the least of Christ's
truths was superior to all political considerations.^' They
maintained the eternal obligation imposed by the covenant
to extirpate heresy and schism ; and they menaced all their
opponents with the same rigid persecution under which they
themselves had groaned when held in subjection by the
hierarchy.
So gi-eat prudence and reserve, in such material points,
does great honor to the Parliament; and proves that, not-
withstanding the prevalence of bigotry and fanaticism, there
were many members who had more enlarged views, and paid
regard to the civil interests of society. These men, uniting
themselves to the entlmsiasts, whose genius is naturally
averse to clerical usurpations, exercised so jealous an au-
thority over the assembly of divines that they allowed
them nothing but the liberty of tendering advice, and would
not intrust them even with the power of electing their own
chairman or his substitute, or of supplying the vacancies of
their own members.
While these disputes were canvassed by theologians,
who engaged in their spiritual contests every order of the
state, the king, though he entertained hopes of reaping
advantage from those divisions, was much at a loss which
side it would be most for his interest to comply with. The
Presbyterians were, by their principles, the least avei-se to
regal authority, but were rigidly bent on the extirpation of
prelacy ; the Independents were resolute to lay the founda-
tion of a republican government ; but as they pretended not
to erect themselves into a national church, it might be hoped
that, if gratified with a toleration, they would admit the re-
establishment of the hierarchy. So great attachment had
the king to episcopal jurisdiction that 'he was ever inclined
to put it in balance even with his own power and kingly
office.
But whatever advantage he might hope to reap from the
M Eusliwortli, vol. vii. p. 210. ra EusUworth, vol. vli. p. 308.
mSTOET OP ENGLAND. 433
divisions in the parliamentary party, he was apprehensive
lest it should come too late to save him from the destruction
with which he was instantly threatened. Fairfax was ap-
proaching with a powerful and victorious army, and was
taking the proper measures for laying siege to Oxford, which
must infallibly fall into his hands. To be taken captive and
led in triumph by his insolent enemies was what Charles
justly, abhorred, and every insult, if not violence, was to be
dreaded from the enthusiastic soldiery, who hated his per-
son and despised his dignity. In this desperate extremity,
he embraced a measure which, in any other situation, might
lie under the imputation of imprudence and indiscretion. ,
Montreville, the French minister, interested for the king
more by the natural sentiments of humanity than any in- j
structions from his court, which seemed rather to favor the
Parliament, had solicited the Scottish generals and commis-
sioners to give protection to their distressed sovereign ; and "
having received many general professions and promises, he
had always transmitted these, perhaps with some exaggera-
tion, to the king. From his suggestions, Charles began to
entertain thoughts of leaving Oxford, and flying to the Scot-
tish army, which at that time lay before Newark." He -
considered that the Sc6ttish nation had been fully gratified
in all their demands ; and having already, in their own
country, annihilated both episcopacy and regal authority,
had no further concessions to exact from him. In all dis-
putes which had passed about settling the terms of peace,
the Scots, he heard, had still adhered to the milder side, and
had endeavored to soften the rigor of the English Parlia-
ment. Great disgusts, also on other accounts, had taken
place between the nations ; and the Scots found that, in
proportion as their assistance became less necessary, less
value was put upon them. The progress of the Indepen-
dents gave them great alarm, and they were scandalized to
hear their beloved covenant spoken of, every day, with less
regard and reverence. The refusal of a divine right to Pres-
bytery, and the infringing of ecclesiastical discipline from
political considerations, were, to them, the subject of much
offence ; and the king hoped that, in their present disposi-
tion, the sight of their native prince flying to them in this
extremity of distress would rouse every spark of generosity
in their bosom, and procure him their favor and protection.
That he might the better conceal his intentions, orders
" Clarendon, vol. iv. p. 750 ; vol. v. p- 16.
Vol. IV.— 28
434 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
were given at every gate at Oxford for allowing three per-
sons to pass, and in the night the king, accompanied by none
but Dr. Hudson and Mr. Ashburnham, went out at that gate
which leads to London. He rode before a portmanteau, and
called himself Ashburnham's servant. He passed through
Henley, St. Alban's, and came so near to London as Har-
row-on-the-Hill. He once entertained thoughts of entering
into that city, and of throwing himself on the mercy of Par-
liament. But at last, after passing through many cross-
roads, he arrived at the Scottish camp before Newark.'^*
The Parliament, hearing of his escape from Oxford, issued
rigorous orders, and threatened with instant death whoever
should harbor or conceal him.^°
The Scottish generals and commissioners affected great
surprise on the appearance of the king; and, though they
paid him all the exterior respect due to liis dignity, they in-
stantly set a guard upon him, under color of protection, and
made him in reality a prisoner. They informed the Eng-
lish Parliament of this unexpected incident, and assured
them that they had entered into no private treaty with tho
king. They applied to him for orders to Bellasis, Governor
of Newark, to surrender that town, now reduced to extrem-
ity, and the orders were instantly obeyed. And hearing
that the Parliament laid claim to the entire disposal of the
king's jDcrson, and that the English army was making some
motions towards them, they thought proper to retire north-
wards, and to fix their camp at Newcastle.^'
This measure was very grateful to the king, and he be-
gan to entertain hopes of protection from the Scots. He
was particularly attentive to the behavior of their preachers,
on whom all depended. It was the mode of that age to
make the pulpit the scene of news, and on every great event,
the whole Scripture was ransacked by the clergy for pas-
sages applicable to the present occasion. The first minister
who preached before the king chose these words for his text :
" And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and
said unto him, Why have our brethren the men of Judah
stolen thee away, and have brought the king, and liis house-
hold, and all David's men with him, over Jordan ? And all
the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the
king is near of kin to us ; wherefore then be ye angry for
this matter ? have we eaten at all of the king's cost ? or hath
w Kushworth, vol. vii. p. 2G7. i» Wbitlocke, p. 209.
" Itusbworth, vol. vii. p. 271. Clarendon, vol. t. p. 23.
HISTOET 01" ENGLAND. 435
he given us any gift? And the men of Israel answered the
men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and
we have also more right in David than ye ; why tiien did ye
despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bring-
ing back our king ? And the words of the men of Judah
were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel." ^^ But
the king soon found that the happiness chiefly of the allu-
sion had tempted the preacher to employ this text, and that
the covenanting zealots were nowise pacified towards him.
Another preacher, after reproaching him to his face with his
misgovernment, ordered this psalm to be sung;
" Why dost thou, tyrant, boast thyself,
Thy wicked deeds to praise ?"
The king stood up, and called for that psalm which begins
with these words ;
" Have mercy, Lord, on me, I pray,
For men would me devour."
The good-natured audience, in pity to fallen majesty,
showed, for once, greater deference to the king than to the
minister, and sang the psalm which the former had called
for.^»
Charles had very little reason to be pleased with his sit-
uation. He not only found himself a prisoner very strictly
guarded : all his friends were kept at a distance, and no in-
tercourse, either by letters or conversation, was allowed him
with any one on whom he could depend, or who was sus-
pected of any attachment towai-ds him. The Scottish gen-
erals would enter into no confidence with him, and still
treated him with distant ceremony and feigned respect ;
and every proposal which they made him tended further to
his abasement and to his ruin.^"
They required him to issue orders to Oxford and all his
other garrisons, commanding their surrender to the Parlia-
ment; and the king, sensible that their resistance was to
very little purpose, willingly complied. The terms given to
most of them were honorable ; and Fairfax, as far as lay in
his power, was very exact in observing them. Far from al-
lowing violence, he would not even permit insults or triumph
over the unfortunate royalists ; and by his generous human-
ity so cruel a civil war was ended, in appearance, very calmly
between the parties.
ES 2 Sam. xix. 41, 42, 43. See Clarendon, vol. v. pp. 23, 24.
» Whitlocke, p. 234. ™ Clarendon, vol. v. p. 30.
436 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
Ormond, having received like, orders, delivered Dublin
and other forts into the hands of the parliamentary oflScers.
Montrose also, after having experienced still more variety
of good and bad fortune, threw down his arms and retired
out of the kingdom.
The Mai-quis of "Worcester, a man past eighty-four, was
the last in England that submitted to the authority of the
Parliament. He defended Raglan Castle to extremity,
and opened not its gates till the middle of August. Four
years, a few days excepted, were now elapsed since the king
first erected his standard at Nottingham.*^ So long had the
British nations, by civil and religious quarrels, been occupied
in shedding their own blood and laying waste their native
country.
The Parliament and the Scots laid their proposals before
the king. They were such as a captive, entirely at mercy,
could expect from the most inexorable' victor ; yet they
were little worse than what were insisted on before the bat-
tle of Naseby. The power of the sword, instead of ten,
which the king now offered, was demanded for twenty years,
together with a right to levy whatever money the Parlia-
ment should think proper for the support of their armies.
The other conditions were, in the main, the same with those
which had formerly been offered to the king.°^
Charles said that proposals which introduced such im-
portant innovations in the constitution demanded time for
deliberation : the commissioners replied that he must give
his answer in ten days.*" He desired to reason about the
meaning and import of some terms ; they informed him. that
they had no power of debate, and peremptorily required his
consent or refusal. He requested a personal treaty with the
Parliament ; they threatened that if he delayed compliance,
the Parliament would by their own authority settle the na-
tion.
What the . Parliament was most intent upon was, not
their treaty with the king, to whom they paid little regard,
but that with the Scots. Two important points remained
to be settled with that nation — their delivery of the king
and the estimation of their arrears.
The Scots might pretend that, as Charles was king of
Scotland as well as of England, they were entitled to an
equal vote in the disposal of his person ; and that, in such a
«• Eushworth, Tol. vi. p. 293. B Kushworth, vol. yi. p. 309.
»3 Bushworth, vol, vii p 319.
HISTORY 01" ENGLAIfD. 437
case, where the titles are equal and the subject indivisible,
the preference was due to the present possessor. The Eng-
glish maintained that the king, being in England, was com-
prehended within the jurisdiction of that kingdom, and could
not be disposed of by any foreign nation. A delicate ques-
tion this, and what surely could not be decided by precedent,
since such a situation is not anywhere to be found in his-
tory.^
As the Scots concurred with the English in imposing
such severe conditions on the king that, notwithstanding his
unfortunate situation, he still refused to accept of them, it
is certain that they did not desire his freedom ; nor could
they ever intend to join lenity and rigor together in so in-
consistent a manner. Before the settlement of terms, the
administration must be possessed entirely by the parliaments
of both kingdoms; and how incompatible that scheme with
the liberty of the king is easily imagined. To carry him a
prisoner into Scotland, where few forces could be supported
to guard him, was a measure so full of inconvenience and
danger that, even if the English had consented to it, it must
have appeared to the Scots themselves altogether ineligible ;
and how could such a plan be supported in opposition to
England, possessed of such numerous and victorious armies,
which were at that time, at least seemed to be, in entire
union with the Parliament ? The only expedient, it is
obvious, which the Scots could embrace, if they scrupled
wholly to abandon the king, was immediately to return,
fully and cordially, to their allegiance ; and, uniting them-
selves with the royalists in both kingdoms, endeavor, by
force of arms, to reduce the English Parliament to more^
moderate conditions ; but, besides that this measure was
full of extreme hazard, what was it but instantly to combine
with their old enemies against their old friends, and, in a fit
of romantic generosity, overturn what, with so much ex-
pense of blood and treasure, they had, during the course of
so many years, been so carefully erecting ?
But, though all these reflections occurred to the Scottish
commissioners, they resolved to prolong the dispute, and to
keep the king as a pledge for those arrears which they
claimed from England, and which they were not likely, in
the present disposition of that nation, to obtain by any
other expedient. The sum, by their account, amounted to
near two millions, for they had received little regular pay
M Eushworth, vol. tU. p. 339.
438 , HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
since they had entered England. And, though the contri-
butions which they had levied, as well as the price of their
living at free quarters, must be deducted, yet still the sum
; which they insisted on was very considerable. After many
discussions, it was at last agreed that, in lieu of all demands,
they should accept of four hundred thousand pounds, one
half to be paid instantly, another in two subsequent pay-
ments."*
Great pains were taken by the Scots (and the English
complied with their pretended delicacy) to make this
estimation and payment of arrears appear a quite different
transaction from tliat for the delivery of the king's person ;
but common-sense requires that they should be regarded as
one and the same. The English, it is evident, had they not
been previously assured of receiving the king, would never
have parted with so considerable a sum, and, while they
weakened themselves by the same measure, have strength-
ened a people with whom they must afterwards have so
material an interest to discuss.
Thus the Scottish nation underwent, and still undergo
(for such grievous stains are not easily wiped off), tbe
reproach of selling their king and betraying their prince for
money. In vain did they maintain that this money was, on
account of former services, undoubtedly their due ; that in
their present situation no other measure, without the ut-
most indiscretion or even their apparent ruin, could be em-
braced ; and that, though they delivered their king into the
hands of his open enemies, they were themselves as much
his open enemies as those to whom they surrendered him,
and their common hatred against him had long united the
two parties in strict alliance with each other. They were
still answered that they made use of this scandalous ex-
pedient for obtaining their wages-; and that after taking
arms without any provocation against their sovereign, who
had ever loved and cherished them, they had deservedly
fallen into a situation from which they could not extricate
themselves without either infamy or imprudence.
The infamy of this bargain had such an influence on the
Scottish Parliament that they once voted that the king
should be protected and his liberty insisted on. But the
general assembly interposed, and pronounced that as he had
refused to take the covenant, which was pressed on him, it
became not the godly to concern themselves about his for-
»* Eushworth, vol. vii. p. 326, Parliamentary History, vol. xv. p. 236.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 439
tunes. After this declaration, it behooved the Parliament
to retract their vote.^°
Intelligence concerning the final resolution of the Scot-
tish nation to surrender him was brought to the king; and
he happened at that very time to be playing at chess."'
Such command of temper did he possess that he continued
his game without interruption ; and none of the bystanders
could perceive that the letter which he perused had brought
him news of any consequence. The English commissioners,
who, some days after, came to take him under their custody,
were admitted to kiss his hands ; and he received them with
the same grace and cheerfulness as if they had travelled on
no other errand than to pay court to him. The old Earl of
Pembroke, in particular, who was one of them, he con-
gratulated on his strength and vigor that he was still able,
during such a season, to perform so long a journey in com-
pany with so many young people.
[1647.] The king, being delivered over by the Scots to
the English commissioners, was conducted under a guard to
Holdenby, in the county of Northampton. On his journey, "^
the whole country flocked to behold him, moved partly by i
curiosity, partly by compassion and affection. If any still
retained rancor against him in his present condition, they
passed in silence ; while his well-wishers, more generous
than prudent, accompanied his march with tears, with
acclamations, and with prayers for his safety.*' That an-
cient superstition likewise of desiring the king's touch in
scrofulous distempers seemed to acquire fresh credit among
the people, from the general tenderness which began to pre-
vail for this virtuous and unhappy monarch.
The commissioners rendered his confinement at Holden-
by very rigorous — dismissing his ancient servants, debarring
him from visits, and cutting off all communication with his
friends or family. The Parliament, though earnestly applied
to by the king, refused to allow his chaplains to attend him,
because they had not taken the covenant. The king re-
fused to assist at the service exercised according to the
dii-ectory, because he had not as yet given his consent to
that mode of worship."' Such religious zeal prevailed on
both sides ! and such was the unhappy and distracted con-
dition to which it had reduced king and people !
™ Parliamentary History, vol. xv. pp. 243, 244.
<" Burnet's Memoirs of the Hamiltons. «' Ludlow. Herbert.
^ Clarendon, vol. v. p. 39. Warwick, p. 298.
440 ■ HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
During the time that the king remained in the Scottish
army at Newcastle died the Earl of Essex, the discarded,
but still powerful and popular, general of the Parliament.
His death in this conjuncture was a public misfortune.
Fully sensible of the excesses to which affairs had been
carried, and of the worse consequences which were still to
be apprehended, he had resolved to conclude a peace, and
to remedy, as far as possible, all those ills to which, from
mistake rather than any bad intentions, he had himself so
much contributed. The Presbyterian, or the moderate,
party among the Commons found themselves considerably
weakened by his death ; and the small remains of authority
which still adhered to the House of Peers were in a mannc-
wholly extinguished.'"
" Clarendon, vol. t. p. 43.
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 441
CHAPTER LIX.
MUTINY OF THE AEMT. — THE KING SEIZED BY JOYCE. — THE
AEMY MAECH AGAINST THE PAELIAMENT. THE AEMY
SUBDUE THE PAELIAMEl^T. THE KING ELIES TO THE
ISLE OF WIGHT. SECOND CIVIL WAE. INVASION FEOM
SCOTLAND. THE TEEATY OP NEWPOET. THE CIVIL WAE
AND INVASION EEPEESSED. THE KING SEIZED AGAIN BY
THE AEMY. THE HOUSE PUEGED. THE KING's TEIAL
AND EXECUTION ^AND CHAEACTEE.
The dominion of the Parliament was of short duration.
"No sooner had they suhdued their sovereign than their'^l
own servants rose against them, and tumbled them from ■
their slippery throne. [1647.] The sacred boundaries of~4
the laws being once violated, nothing remained to confine
the wild projects of zeal and ambition. And every suc-
cessive revolution became a precedent for that which fol-
lowed it.
In proportion as the terror of the king's power dimin-
ished, the division between Independents and Presbyterians
became every day more apparent ; and the neutrals found it
at last requisite to seek shelter in one or the other faction.
Many new writs were issued for elections in the room of
members who had died, or were disqualified by adhering—,
to the king ; yet still the Presbyterians retained the supe-
riority among the Commons ; and all the Peers, except ~
Lord Say, were esteemed of that party. The Independ-
ents, to whom the inferior sectaries adhered, predominated
in the army ; and the troops of the new model were univer-
sally infected with that enthusiastic spirit. To their assist-
ance did the Independent party among the Commons chiefly
trust in their projects for acquiring the ascendant over their
antagonists.
Soon after the retreat of the Scots, the Presbyterians,
seeing everything reduced to obedience, began to talk of ,
diminishing the army ; and, on pretence of easing the public
burdens, they levelled a deadly blow at the opposite fac-
tion. They purposed to embark a strong detachment under
442 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
Skippon and Massey for the service of Ireland ; they openly
declared their intention of making a great reduction of the
remainder.^ It was even imagined that another new model
of the army was projected, in order to regain the Presbyte-
rians that superiority which they had so imprudently lost
by the former.^
The army had small inclination to the service of Ireland
— a country barbarous, uncultivated, and laid waste by
massacres and civil commotions ; they had less inclination
to disband and to renounce that pay which, having earned
it through fatigues and dangers, they now proposed to en-
joy in ease and tranquillity. And most of the officers, hav-
ing risen from the dregs of the people, had no other pros-
pect, if deprived of their commission, than that of returning
to languish in their native poverty and obscurity.
These motives of interest acquired additional influence,
and became more dangerous to the Parliament from the re-
ligious spirit by which the army was universally actuated.
Among the generality of men educated in regular civilized
societies, the sentiments of shame, duty, honor, have con-
siderable authority, and serve to counterbalance and direct
the motives derived from private advantage ; but by the
predominancy of enthusiasm among the parliamentary forces
these salutary principles lost their credit, and were regarded
as mere human inventions, yea, moral institutions, fitter for
heathens than for Christians.' The saint, resigned over to
superior guidance, was at full liberty to gratify all his ap-
petites, disguised under the appearance of pious zeal. And,
besides the strange corruptions engendered by this spirit,
it eluded and loosened all the ties of morality, and gave en-
tire scope, and even sanction, to the selfishness and ambi-
tion which naturally adhere to the human mind.
The military confessors were further encouraged in dis-
obedience to superiors by that spiritual pride to which a
mistaken piety is so subject. They were not, they said,
mere janizaries, mercenary troops enlisted for hire, and to
be disposed of at the will of their paymasters.* Religion
and liberty were the motives which had excited them to
arms ; and they had a superior right to see those blessings
which they had purchased with their blood insured to future
1 Fourteen thousand men were only intended to be kept up— six thousand
uorse, SIX thousand foot, and two tliousand dragoons.— Bales
J Hushworth, vol. vii. p. 664. s Kushwoith, vol. vi. p. 134.
* Busbworth, vol. vu. p. 565. ^
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 443
generations. By the same title that the Presbyterians, in
contradistinotion to the royalists, had appropriated to them-
selves the epithet of godly or the well-affected,^ the Inde-
pendents did now, in contradistinction to the Presbyterians,
assume this magnificent appellation, and arrogate all the as-
cendant which naturally belongs to it.
Hearing of parties in the House of Commons, and being
informed that the minority were friends to the army, the
majority enemies, the troops naturally interested themselves
in that dangerous distinction, and were eager to give the
superiority to their partisans. Whatever hardships they
underwent, though perhaps derived from inevitable neces-
sity, were ascribed to a settled design of oppressing them,
and resented as an effect of the animosity and malice of
their adversaries.
Notwithstanding the great revenue which accrued from
taxes, assessments, sequestrations, and compositions, consid-
erable arrears were due to the army ; and many of the pri-
vate men, as well as officers, had near a twelvemonth's pay
still owing them. The army suspected that this deficiency
was purposely contrived in order to oblige them to live at
free quarters, and, by rendering them odious to the country,
serve as a pretence for disbanding them. When they saw,
such members as were employed in committees and civil
offices accumulate fortunes, they accused them of rapine and
public plunder. And as no plan was pointed out by the Com-
mons for the payment of arrears, the soldiers dreaded that,
after they should be disbanded or embarked for Ireland,
their enemies, who predominated in the two Houses, would
entirely defraud them of their right, and oppress them with
impunity.
On this ground or pretence did the first commotions be-
gin in the army. A petition addressed to Fairfax, the gen-
eral, was handed about, craving an indemnity, and that rat-
ified by the king, for any illegal actions of which, during
the course of the war, the soldiers might have been guilty ;
together with satisfaction in arrears, freedom from pressing,
relief of widows and maimed soldiers, and pay till dis-
banded.^ The Commons, aware of what combustible ma-
terials the army was composed, were alarmed at this intel-
ligence. Such a combination, they knew, if not checked in
its first appearance, must be attended with the most dan»
gerous consequences, and must soon exalt the military above
« Eushworth, vol. vii. p. 474. « Parliamentary Hist. vol. xv. p. 342.
444 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
the civil authority. Besides summoning some oiEcers to
answer for this attempt, they immediately voted_ that the
petition tended to introduce mutiny, to put conditions upon
the Parliament, and to obstruct the relief of Ireland ; _ and
they threatened to proceed against the promoters of it as
enemies to the state and disturbers of public peace.' This
declaration, which may be deemed violent, especially as the
army had some ground for complaint, produced fatal ef-
fects. The soldiers lamented that they were deprived of
the privileges of Englishmen ; that they were not allowed
so much as to represent their grievances ; that while peti-
tions from Essex and other places were openly encouraged
against the army, their mouths were stopped ; and that they,
:who were the authors of liberty to the nation, were re-
duced by a faction in Parliament to the most grievous ser-
vitude.
In this disposition was the army found by "Warwick,
Dacres, Massey, and other commissioners who were sent to
make them proposals for entering into the service of Ire-
land.' Instead of enlisting, the generality objected to the
terms, demanded an indemnity, were clamorous for their
arrears; and though they expressed no dissatisfaction
against Skippon, who was appointed commander, they dis-
covered much stronger inclination to serve under Fairfax
and Cromwell.* Some officers who were of the Presbyte-
rian party, having entered into engagements for this ser-
vice, could prevail on very few of the soldiers to enlist under
them. And as these officers lay all under the grievous re-
proach of deserting the army and betraying the interests
of their companions, the rest were further confirmed in that
confederacy which they had secretly formed.^"
To petition and remonstrate being the most cautious
method of conducting a confederacy, an application to
Parliament was signed by near two hundred officers, in
which they made their apology with a very imperious air,
asserted their right of petitioning, and complained of that
imputation thrown upon them by the former declaration of
the lower House.^^ The private men, likewise, of some
regiments sent a letter to Skippon, in which, together with
insisting on the same topics, they lament that designs were
formed against them and many of the godly party in the
^ Parliamentary Hist. vol. xv. p. 344.
8 Eusliworth, vol. vii. p. 457. » Enshworth, vol. vii. p. 468.
» Kunhwoith, vol. vii. pp. 461, 556. u Eushworth, vol. vii. p. 468.
HISTOET OP ENGLAND. 445
kingdom, and declare that they could not engage for Ireland
till they were satisfied in their expectations, and had their
just desires granted.''^ The army, in a word, felt their
power and resolved to be masters.
The Parliament, too, resolved, if possible, to preserve
their dominion ; but, being destitute of power, and not re-
taining much authority, it was not easy for them to employ
any expedient which could contribute to their purpose.
The expedient which they now made use of was the worst
imaginable. They sent Skippon, Cromwell, Ireton, and Fleet-
wood to the headquarters at Saffron Walden, in Essex ; and
empowered them to made offers to the army, and inquire into
the cause of its distempers. These very generals, at least
the three last, were secretly the authors of all the discon-^
tents, and failed not to foment those disorders which they
pretended to appease. By their suggestion, a measure was
embraced which at once brought matters to extremity, and
rendered the mutiny incurable.
In opposition to the Parliament at Westminster, a mili-
tary Par]jament~ was formed. Together with a council of
the principal officers, which was appointed after the model
of the House of Peers, a more free representative of the
army was composed by the election of two private men or
inferior officers, under the title of agitators, from each
troop or company." By this means both the general
humor of that time was gratified, intent on plans of im-
aginary republics, and an easy method contrived for con-i
ducting underhand, and propagating, the sedition of the
army.
This terrible court, when assembled, having first de-
clared that they found no distempers in the army, but many
grievanees under which it labored, immediately voted the
offers of the Parliament unsatisfactory. Eight weeks' pay
klone, they said, was promised — a small part of fifty-rsix
weeks', which they claimed as their due. No visible secur-
ity was given for the remainder ; and having been declared
public enemies by the Commons, they might hereafter be
prosecuted as such, unless the declaration were recalled."
Before matters came to this height, Cromwell had posted
up to London, on pretence of laying before the Parliament
the rising discontents of the army.
12 Bushworth, vol. vii. p. 474.
" Rush worth, vol, vii. p. 485. Clarendon, vol. v. p. 43,
14 Eushworth, vol. vii. pp. 497, 505. Whitloelte, p. 250.
446 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
The Parliament made one vigorous effort more to try
the force of their authority : they voted that all the troops
which did not engage for Ireland should instantly be dis-
banded in their quarters." At the same time the council
of the army ordered a general rendezvous of all the regi-
ments, in order to provide for their common interests. And
while they thus prepared themselves for opposition to the
Parliament they struck a blow which at once decided the
victory in their favor.
A party of five hundred hor-se appeared at Holdenby,
conducted by one Joyce, who had once been a tailor by pro-
fession, but was now advanced to the rank of cornet, and
was an active agitator in the army. Without being opposed
by the guard, whose affections were all on their side, Joyce
came into the king's presence armed with pistols, and told him
that he must immediately go along with him. " Whither ?"
said the king. " To the army," replied Joyce. " By what
warrant?" asked the king. Joyce pointed to the soldiers
whom he brought along, tall, handsome, and well accou-
tred. "Your warrant," said Charles, smiling, "is written
in fair characters, legible without spelling." ^* The parlia-
mentary commissioners came into the room. They asked
Joyce whether he had any orders from the Parliament. He
said, "No." From the general ? "No." By what author-
ity he came ? He made the same reply as to the king. " They
would write," they said, " to the Parliament to know their
pleasure." " You may do so," replied Joyce, " but in the
meantime the king must immediately go with me." Re-
sistance was vain. The king, after protracting the time as
long as he could, went into his coach, and was safely eon-
ducted to the army, who were hastening to their rendezvous
at Triplo Heath, near Cambridge. The Parliament, in-
formed of this event by their commissioners, were thrown
inl^o the utmost consternation."
Fairfax himself was no less surprised at the king's arrival.
That bold measure executed by Joyce had never been com-
municated to the general. The orders were entirely verbal,
and nobody avowed them. And while every one affected
astonishment at the enterprise, Cromwell, by whose counsel
it had been directed, arrived from London and put an end
to their deliberations.
This artful and audacious conspirator had conducted
J" Rusliworth, Tol. vii. p. 487.
i» Wliitlocke, p. 254. Warwick, p. 299.
" KuBlJWOrth, vol. vii. pp. 514, 615. Clarendon, vol. v. p. 47.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 447
himself in the Parliament with such profound dissimulation,
with such refined hypocrisy, that he had lonp: deceived those
who, being themselves very dexterous practitioners in the
same arts, should naturally have entertained the more suspi-
cion against others. At every intelligence of disorders in
the army he was moved to the highest pitch of grief and of
anger. He wept bitterly ; he lamented the misfortunes of
his country ; he advised every violent measure for suppress-
ing the mutiny ; and by these precipitate counsels at once
seemed to evince his own sincerity and inflamed those dis-
contents of which he intended to make advantage. He
obtested heaven and earth that his devoted attachment to
the Parliament had rendered him so odious in the army
that his life while among them was in the utmost danger,
and he had very narrowly escaped a conspiracy formed to
assassinate him. But information being brought that the
most active oflicers and agitators were entirely his creatures,
the parliamentary leaders secretly resolved that next day,
when he should come to the House, an accusation should be
entered against him and he should be sent to the Tower.^*
Cromwell, who in the conduct of his desperate enterprises,'
frequently approached to the very brink of destruction,
knew how to make the requisite turn with proper dexterity
and boldness. Being informed of this design, he hastened'
to the camp, where he was received with acclamations, and
was instantly invested with the supreme command, both of
general and army.
Fairfax, having neither talents himself for cabal, nor
penetration to discover the cabals of others, had given his
entire confidence to Cromwell, who by the best colored pre-
tences, and by the appearance of an open sincerity and a
scrupulous conscience, imposed on the easy nature of this
brave and virtuous man. The council of oflicers and the '
agitators were moved altogether by Cromwell's direction,
and conveyed his will to the whole army. By his profound
and artful conduct he had now attained a situation where
he could cover his enterprises from public view ; and, seem-
ing either to obey the commands of his superior officer or
yield to the movements of the soldiers, could secretly pave
the way for his future greatness. While the disorders of i
the army were yet in their infancy he kept at a distance, '
lest his counterfeit aversion might throw a damp upon them,
or his secret encouragement beget suspicion in the Parlia-
i> Clarendon, vol. v. p. 46.
448 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
ment. As soon as they came to maturity he openly joined
the troops, and in the critical moment struck that important
blow of seizing the king's person, and depriving the Parlia^
ment of any resource of an accommodation with him.
Though one visor fell off, another still remained to cover his
natural countenance. Where delay was requisite, he would
employ the most indefatigable patience ; where celerity
was necessary, he flew to a decision. And by thus uniting
in his person the most opposite talents, he was enabled to
combine the most contrary interests in a subserviency to
, his secret purposes.
The Parliament, though at present defenceless, was pos-
sessed of many resources, and time might easily enable them
to resist that violence with which they were threatened.
Without further deliberation, therefore, Cromwell advanced
the army upon them, and arrived in a few days at St.
Alban's.
Nothing could be more popular than this hostility which
the army commenced against the Parliament. As much as
that assembly was once the idol of the nation, as much was
it now become the object of general hatred and aversion.
The self-denying ordinance had no longer been put in
execution than till Essex, Manchester, Waller, and the other
ofiicers of that party had resigned their commissions; im-
mediately after it was laid aside by tacit consent, and the
members, sharing all offices of power and profit among them,
proceeded with impunity in exercising acts of oppression on
the helpless nation. Though the necessity of their situation
might serve as an apology for many of their measures, the
people, not accustomed to such a species of government,
were not disposed to make the requisite allowances.
A small supply of one hundred thousand pounds a year
could never be obtained by former kings from the jealous
humor of parliaments ; and the English, of all nations in
Europe, were the least accustomed to taxes. But this Par-
liament, from the commencement of the war, according to
some computations, had levied in five years above forty
millions," yet were loaded with debts and encumbrances
which, during that age, were regarded as prodigious. If
>» Clement Walker's History of tlie Two Juntos, prefixed to his History of In-
dependency, p. 8. Tliis is an author of spirit and Ingenuity, and, heing a zeal-
ous parliamentarian, his authority is very considerahle, notwithstanding the aip
of satire which prevails in his writings. This computation, however, seems much
too large, especially as the sequestrations during the time o£ war could not be so
considerable as afterwards.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 449
these computations should be thought much exaggerated, as
they probably are,^" the taxes atid impositions were certainly
far higher than in any former state of the English govern-
ment ; and such popular exaggerations are, at least, a proof
of , popular discontents.
But the disposal of this money was no less the object of
general complaint against the Parliament than the levying
of it. The sum of three hundred thousand pounds they
openly took, it is afiirmed,^^ and divided among their own
members. The committees to whom the management of
the different branches of revenue was intrusted never
brought in their accounts, and had unlimited j)ower of se-
creting whatever sums they pleased from the public treas-
ure.^'' These branches were needlessly multiplied, in order
to render the revenue more intricate, to share the advantages
among greater numbers, and to conceal the frauds of which
they were universally suspected.^*
The method of keeping accounts practised in the ex-
chequer was confessedly the exactest, the most ancient, the
best known, and the least liable to fraud. The exchequer
was, for that reason, abolished, and the revenue put under
the management of a committee, who were subject to no
control.''*
The excise was an odious tax, formerly unknown to the
nation, and was now extended over provisions and the com-
mon necessaries of life. Near one half of the goods and
chattels, and at least one half of the lands, rents, and rev-
enues, of the kingdom had been sequestered. To great
numbers of royalists all redress from these sequestrations
"was refused ; to the rest the remedy could be obtained only
by paying large compositions and subscribing the covenant,
which they abhorred. Besides pitying the ruin and desola-
tion of so many ancient and honorable families, indifferent
spectators could not but blame the hardship of punishing,
with such severity, actions which the law, in its usual and
most undisputed interjjretation, strictly required of every
subject.
The severities, too, exercised against the episcopal clergy
naturally affected the royalists, and even all men of candor,
in a sensible manner. By the most moderate computation ^
20 Yet the same sum precisely is assigned in another book, caUed Royal Treas-
ury of England, p. 297.
21 Clement Walker's History of Independency, pp. 3, 166.
22 Clement Walker's History of Independency, p. 8. 23 ibid. m Ibid.
20 See John Walker's Attempt towards Kecovering an Account oE the Num-
Vol. IV.— 29
450 HISTORY OF ENGLAND. ;
it appears that above one half of the established clergy had
been turned out to beggary and want, for no other crime
than their adhering to the civil and religious principles in
which they had been educated, and for their attachment to
those laws under whose countenance they had at first em-
braced that profession. To renounce episcopacy and the
liturgy, and to subscribe the covenant, were the only terms
which could save them from so rigorous a fate ; and if the
least mark of malignancy, as it was called, or affection to
the king, who so entirely loved them, had ever escaped their
lips, even this hard choice was not permitted. The sacred
character which gives the priesthood such authority over
mankind, becoming more venerable from the sufferings en-
dured for the sake of principle by these distressed royalists,
aggravated the general indignation, against their perse-
cutors.
But what excited the most universal complaint was the
unlimited tyranny and despotic rule of the country com-
mittees. During the war the discretionary power of these
courts was excused from the plea of necessity, but the na-
tion was reduced to despair when it saw neither end put to
their duration nor bounds to their authority. These could
sequester, fine, imprison, and corporally punish, without law
or remedy. They interposed in questions of private prop-
erty. Under color of malignancy, they exercised ven-
geance against their private enemies. To the obnoxious,
and sometimes to the innocent, they sold their protection.
And instead of one Star-chamber, which had been abolished,
a great number were anew erected, fortified with better pre-
tences, and armed with more unlimited authority .^°
Could anything have increased the indignation against
that slavery into which the nation, from the too eager pur-
suit of liberty, had fallen, it must have been the reflection
on the pretences by wliich the people had so long been
deluded. The sanctified hypocrites, who called their op-
pressions the spoiling of the Egyptians, and their rigid
severity the dominion of the elect, interlarded all their ini-
bers and Sufferings of tlie Clergy. The Parliament pretended to leave the
sequestered ,clergy a fifth of their revenue ; but this author makes it suthciently
appear that this provision, small as it is, was never regularly paid the elected
clergy.
2« Clement Wallcer's History of Independency, p. 5. Hollis gives the same
represenlatiou as Walker of the plundering, oppressions, and tyranjiyot the Par-
liament ; only, instead of laying the fault on both parties, as Walker does he
ascribes it solely to the Independent faction. The Presbyterians, Indeed being
commonly denominated the mnderate partv, would probably be more inotlensive
gee Hushworth, vol. vii. p. -WS, and Parliamentary History, vol. XV p 230
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 451
qiiities with long and fervent prayers, saved themselves
from blushing by their pious grimaces, and exercised, in the
name of the Lord, all their cruelty on men. An undisguised
violence could be forgiven ; but such a mockery of the un-
derstanding, such an abuse of religion, were, with men of
penetration, objects of peculiar resentment.
The Parliament, conscious of their decay in popularity,
seeing a formidable armed force advance upon them, were
reduced to despair, and found all their resources much in-
ferior to their present necessity. London still retained a
strong attachment to Presbyterianism ; and its militia, which
was numerous and had acquired reputation in wars, had by
a late ordinance been put into hands in whom the Parlia-
ment could entirely confide. This militia was now called
out, and ordered to guard the lines which had been drawn
round the city, in order to secure it against the king. A
body of horse was ordered to be instantly levied. Many
officers, who had been cashiered by the new model of the
army, offered their service to the Parliament. An army of
five thousand men lay in the north under the command of
General Pointz, who was of the Presbyterian faction ; but
these were too distant to be employed in so urgent a neces-
sity. The forces destined for Ireland were quartered in the
west ; and though deemed faithful to the Parliament, tliey
also lay at a distance. Many inland garrisons were com-
manded by officers of the same party ; but tlieir troops,
being so much dispersed, could at present be of no manner
of service. The Scots were faithful friends, and zealous for
Presbytery and the covenant ; but a long time was required
ere they could collect their forces and march to the assist-
ance of the Parliament.
In this situation it was thought more prudent to submit,
and by compliance to stop the fury of the enraged army.
The declaration by which the military petitioners had been
voted public enemies was recalled and erased from tlie
journal book.^' This was the first symptom which the Par-
liament gave of submission ; and the army, hoping by ter-
ror alone, to effect all their purposes, stopped at St. Alban's,
and entered into negotiation with their masters.
Here commenced the encroachments of the military upon
the civil authority. The army, in their usurpations on the
Pai'liament, copied exactly the models which the Parliament
itself had set them in their recent usurpations on the crown.
'' Eusliworth, -vol. vii. pp. 503, 547. Clarendon, vol. v. y. IS.
452 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
Every day they rose in their demands. If one claira was
granted, they liad another ready, still more enormous and
exorbitant, and were determined never to be satisfied. At
first they pretended, only to petition for what concerned
themselves as soldiers; next, they must have a vindica^
tion of their character ; then it was necessary that their
enemies be punished ; •'' at last they claimed a right of mod-
elling the whole government and settling the nation.^
They preserved in words all deference and respect to the
Parliament, but in reality insulted them and tyrannized over
them. That assembly they pretended not to accuse ; it was
only evil counsellors who seduced and betrayed it.
They proceeded so far as to name eleven members, whom,
in general terms, they charged with high treason, as ene-
mies to the army and evil counsellors to the Parliament.
Their names were Hollis, Sir Philip Stapleton, Sir William
Lewis, Sir John Clot^orthy, Sir William Waller, Sir John
Maynard, Massey, Glyn, Long, Harley, and Nicholas.'"
These were the very leaders of the Presbyterian party.
They insisted that these members should immediately be
sequestered from Parliament, and be thrown into prison.'^
The Commons replied that they could not, upon a general
charge, proceed so far.''^ The army observed to them that
the cases of Strafford and Laud were direct precedents for
that purpose.'' At last the eleven members themselves, not
to give occasion for discord, begged leave to retire from the
House; and the army, for the present, seemed satisfied with
this mark of submission.'''
Pretending that the Parliament intended to levy war
upon them, and to involve the nation again in blood and
confusion, they required that all new levies should be
stopped. The Parliament complied with this demand.'*
There being no signs of resistance, the army, in order to
save appearances, removed, at the desire of the Parliament,
to a greater distance from London, and fixed their head-
quarters at Reading. They carried the king along with
them in all their marches.
That prince now found himself in a better situation than
2» Eusbwortb, vol. vii. p. 509.
» Kiishwoi-tl), vol. vii. p|i. 567, 633; vol. viii. p 731
3! Kusliwori.il, vol. vii, p. 570. 3. itushworth, vol. vii. p. 572.
3- Kiishwortli, vol. VII, p. 592. • y. kh£>.
M Kusliwoi-lli, vol. vii. p. 504. Wliitlocke, p. 259
s« KusLwoitli, vol. vii. pp. 593, 594. st Itushworth, vol. vii. pp. 572, 574.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 453
at Holdenby, and had attained some greater degi'ee of free-
dom as well as of consideration with both parties.
All his friends had access to his presence ; his corre-
spondence with the queen was not interrupted ; his chaplains
were restored to him, and he was allowed the use of the
liturgy; his children were once allowed to visit him, and
they passed a few days at Caversham, where he then resided."'
He had not seen the Duke of Gloucester, his youngest son,
and the Princess Elizabeth, since he left London, at the CDm-
niencement of the civil disorders ; " nor the Duke of York
since he went to the Scottish army before Newark. No
private man, unacquainted with the pleasures of a court and
the tumult of a camp, more passionately loved his family
than did this good prince ; and such an instance of indul-
gence in the army was extremely grateful to him. Cromwell,
who was witness to the meeting of the royal family, con-
fessed that he never had been present at so tender a scene ;
and he extremely applauded the benignity which displayed
itself in the whole disposition and behavior of Charles.
That artful politician, as well as the leaders of all par-
ties, paid court to the king ; and fortune, notwithstanding
all his calamities, seemed again to smile upon him. The
Parliament, afraid of his forming some accommodation with
the army, addressed him in a more respectful style than
formerly ; and invited him to reside at Richmond and con-
tribute his assistance to the settlement of the nation. The
chief officers treated him with regard, and spoke on all oc-
casions of restoring him to his just powers and prerogatives. ,
In the public declarations of the army, the settlement of
his revenue and authority was insisted on.^* The royalists
everywhere entertained hopes of restoration of monarchy,
and the favor which they universally bore to the army con-
tributed very much to discourage the Parliament and to
forward their submission.
The king began to feel of what consequence he was. The
more the national confusion increased, the more was he con-
fident that all parties would at length have recourse to his
lawful authority, as the only remedy for the public dis-
orders. " You cannot be without me," said he on several
occasions. " You cannot settle the nation but by my assist-
3" Clarendon, vol. i. pp. .51, .52, 57.
37 Wlien the king applied to have his children, the Parliament always told
him that they could take as much care at London, both of their bodies and souls,
as could be done at Oxford.— Parliauieutary History, vol. xiii. p. 127.
3» Kusliworlh, vol. vii. p. 590.
454 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
anee." A people without government and without liberty,
a Parlifiment without authority, an army without a legal
master ; distractions everywhere, terrors, oppressions, con-
vulsions ; from this scene of confusion, which could not long
continue, all men, he hoped, would be brought to reflect on
that ancient government under which they and their ances-
tors had so long enjoyed happiness and tranquillity.
Though Charles kept his ears open to all proposals, and
expected to hold the balance between the opposite parties,
he entertained more hopes of accommodation with the
army. He had experienced the extreme rigor of the Par-
liament. They pretended totally to annihilate his authority ;
they had confined his person. In both these particulars the
army showed more indulgence.^ He had a free intercourse
with his friends. And in the proposals which the council
of officers sent for the settlement of the nation, they insist-
ed neither on the abolition of episcopacy nor on the pun-
ishment of the royalists, the two points to which the king
had the most extreme reluctance. And they demanded
that a period should be put to the present Parliament, the
event for which he most ardently longed.
His conjunction, too, seemed more natural with the
generals than with that usurping assembly who had so long
assumed the entire sovereignty of the state, and who had
declared their resolution still to continue masters. By
gratifying a few persons with titles and preferments, he
might draw over, he hoped, the whole military power, and,
in an instant, reinstate himself in his civil authority. To
Ireton he offered the lieutenancy of Ireland ; to Cromwell,
the Garter, the title of Earl of Essex, and the command of
the army. Negotiations to this purpose were secretly con-
ducted. Cromwell pretended to hearken to them, and was
well pleased to keep the door open for an accommodation,
if the course of events should at any time render it neces-
. sary. And the king, who had no suspicion that one born a
private gentleman could entertain the daring ambition of
seizing the sceptre transmitted through a long line of mon-
archs, indulged hopes that he would, at last, embrace a
measure which, by all the motives of duty, interest, and
safety, seemed to be recommended to him.
While Cromwell allured the king by these expectations,
he still continued his scheme of reducing the Parliament to
™ Warwick, p. 303. Parliamentary History, vol. xvi. p. 40. Clarendon, vol.
V. p. 50.
HSTORY OF ENGLAND. 455
Bubjection, and depriving them of all means of resistance.
To gratify the army, the Parliament invested Fairfax with
the title of general-in-chief of all the forces in England and
Ireland ; and intrusted the whole military authority to a
person who, though well inclined to their service, was no
longer at his own disposal.
They voted that the troops which, in obedience to them,
had enlisted for Ireland and deserted the rebellious array,
should be disbanded, or, in other words, be punished for
their fidelity. The forces in the north, under Pointz, had
already mutinied against their general, and had entered into
an association with that body of the ai-my which was so suc-
cessfully employed in exalting the military above the civil
authority.*"
That no resource might remain to the Parliament, it was
demanded ihat the militia of London should be changed,
the Presbyterian commissioners displaced, and the command
restored to those who, during the course of the war, had
constantly exercised it. The Parliament even complied with
so violent a demand, and passed a vote in obedience to the
army.*^
By this unlimited patience they proposed to temporize
under their present difficulties, and they hoped to find a
more favorable opportunity for recovering their authority
and influence ; but the impatience of the city lost them all
the advantage of their cautious measures. A petition against
the alteration of the militia was carried to Westminster,
attended by the apprentices and seditious multitude, who
besieged the door of the House of Commons ; and, by their
clamor, noise, and violence, obliged them to reverse that
vote which they had passed so lately. When gratified in
this pretension, they immediately dispersed and left the
Parliament at liberty.*^
No sooner was intelligence of this tumult conveyed to
Reading than the army was put in motion. The two Houses
being under restraint, they were resolved, they said, to vin-
dicate against the seditious citizens the invaded privileges ,
of Parliament, and restore that assembly to its just freedom
of debate and counsel. In their way to London, they were
drawn up on Hounslow Heath — a formidable body, twenty
thousand strong, and determined, without regard to laws or
*' Rushworth, vol. vii. p. 620. *' Rusliwortb, vol, vii. pp. B2S), 632.
« RuBliworth, vol. vii. pp. 641, 643. Clarendon, vol. v. p. 61. Wliitlocke, p.
269. Clement Walkei-, p. 38.
456 HISTOKT OF ENGLAND.
liberty, to pTirstte whatever measures their generals shonM
dictate to them. Here the most favorable event happened
to quicken and encourage their advance. The speakers of
the two Houses, Manchester and Lenthal, attended by eight
peers and about sixty commoners, having secretly retired
from the city, presented themselves with their maces and
all the ensigns of their dignity ; and, complaining of the
violence put upon them, applied to the army for defence
and protection. They were received with shouts and accla-
mations, respect was paid to them as to the Parliament of
England, and the army, being provided with so plausible a
pretence — which in all public transactions is of great conse-
quence— advanced to chastise the rebellious city and to rein-
state the violated Parliament.'*^
Neither Lenthal nor Manchester was esteemed an Inde-
pendent, and such a step in them was unexpected. But they
probably foresaw that the army must, in the end, prevail ;
and they were willing to pay court in time to that author-
ity which began to predominate in the nation.
The Parliament, forced from their temporizing measures
and obliged to resign at once, or combat for their liberty
and power, prepared themselves with vigor for defence, and
determined to resist the violence of the army. The two
Houses immediately chose new speakers, Lord Hunsdon and
Henry Pelham ; they renewed their former orders for en-
listing troops;, they appointed Massey to be commander;
they ordered the train-bands to man the lines ; and the
whole city was in a ferment and resounded with military
preparations."
When any intelligence arrived that the army stopped or
retreated, the shout of " One and all " ran with alacrity from
street to street among the citizens; when news came of their
advancing, the cry of " Treat and capitulation " was no less
loud and vehement." The terror of a universal jjillage, and
even massacre, had seized the timid inhabitants.
As the army approached, Rainsborow, being sent by the
general over the river, presented himself before Southvvark,
and was gladly received by some soldiers, who were quar-
tered there for its defence, and who were resolved not to sep-
arate their interests from those of the army. It behooved,
then, the Parliament to submit. The army marched in tri-
umph through the city, but preserved the greatest order,
" Rusbworth, vol. vii. p. 750. Clarendon, vol. v. p 63
" Kushworth, vol. vii. p. 646. lo Wliitloeke, p. 265.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 457
decency, and appearance of humility. They conducted to
Westminster the two speakers, who took their seats as if
nothing liad happened. The eleven impeached members^
being accused as authors of the tumult, were expelled, and
most of them retired beyond sea. Seven peers were im-
peached ; the mayor, one sheriff, and three aldermen sent to
the Tower; several citizens and officers of the militia com-
mitted to prison ; every deed of the Parliament annulled
from the day of the tumult till the return of the speakers;
the lines about the city levelled; the militia restored to the
Independents ; regiments quartered in Whitehall and the
Mews; and the Parliament being reduced to a regular
formed servitude, a day was appointed of solemn thanks-
giving for the restoration of its liberty .*'
The Independent party among the Commons exulted in
their victory. The whole authority of the nation, they
imagined, was now lodged in their hands ; and they had a
near prospect of moulding the government into that imagi-
nary republic which had long been the object of their wishes.
They had secretly concurred in all encroachments of the
military upon the civil power; and they expected, by the
terror of the sword, to impose a more perfect system of lib-
erty on the reluctant nation. All parties, the king, the
Church, the Parliament, the Presbyterians, had been guilty
of errors since the commencement of these disorders ; but it
must be confessed that this delusion of the Independents
and Republicans was, of all others, the most contrary to
common-sense and the established maxims of . policy. Yet
were the leaders of that party — Vane, Fiennes, St. John,
Martin — -the men in England the most celebrated for pro-
found thought and deep contrivance ; and by their well-
colored pretences and professions they had overreached the
whole nation. To deceive such men would argue a super-
lative capacity in Cromwell, were it not that, besides the
great difference there is between dark, crooked counsels and
true wisdom, an exorbitant passion for rule and authority
will make the most prudent overlook the dangerous conse-
quences of such measures as seem to tend in any degree to
their own advancement.
The leaders of the army, having established their domin-
ion over the Parliament and city, ventured to bring the king
to Hampton Court, and he lived for some time in that palace
with an appearance of dignity and freedom. Such equabil-
M Eusliwortli, vol. viii. pp. 797, 798, etc.
458 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
ity of temper did he possess that, during all the variety of
fortune which he underwent, no difference was perceived in
his countenance or behavior; and, though a prisoner in the
hands of his most inveterate enemies, he supported towards
all who approached him the majesty of a monarch ; and that
neither with less nor greater state than he had been accus-
tomed to maintain. His manner, which was not in itself
popular nor gracious, now appeared amiable from its great
meekness and equality.
The Parliament renewed their applications to him, and
presented him with the same conditions which they had
offered at Newcastle. The king declined accepting them,
and desired the Parliament to take the proposals of the
army into consideration, and make them the foundation of
the public settlement." He still entertained hopes that his
negotiations with the generals would be crowned with suc-
cess, though everything in that particular daily bore a
worse aspect. Mosfc historians have thought that Cromwell
never was sincere ih his professions ; and that, having, by
force, rendered himself master of the king's person, and,
by fair pretences, acquired the countenance of the royal-
ists, he had employed these advantages to the enslaving
of the Parliament, and afterwards thought of nothing but
the establishment of his own unlimited authority, with
which he esteemed the restoration, and even life, of the
king altogether incompatible. This opinion, so much war-
ranted by the boundless ambition and profound dissimulation
of his character, meets with ready belief, though it is more
agreeable to the narrowness of human views and the darkness
of futurity to suppose that this daring usurper was guided
by events, and did not as yet foresee with any assurance
that unparalleled greatness which he afterwards attained.
Many writers of that age have asserted *" that he really in-
tended to make a private bargain with the king — a measure
which carried the most plausible appearance both for his
safety and advancement, but that he found insuperable diffi-
culties in reconciling to it the wild humors of the army. The
horror and antipathy of these fanatics had for many years
been artfully fomented against Charles ; and though their
principles were on all occasions easily warped and eluded
by private interest, yet was some coloring requisite, and a
flat contradiction to all former professions and tenets could
not safely be proposed to them. It is certain, at least, that
" Eushwortli, vol. vJU. p. 810. '> See note [])D] at the end of Hie volume.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 459
Cromwell made use of this reason why he admitted rarely
of visits from the king's friends, and showed less favor than
formerly to the royal cause. The agitators, he said, had
rendered him odious to the army, and had represented him
as a traitor who, for the sake of private interest, was ready
to betray the cause of God to the great enemy of piety and
religion. Desperate projects, too, he asserted to be secretly
formed for the murder of the king ; and he pretended much
to dread lest all his authority, and that of the commanding
officers, would not be able to restrain these enthusiasts from
their bloody purposes.^'
Intelligence being daily brought to the king of menaces
thrown out by the agitators, he began to think of retiring
from Hampton Court, and of putting himself in some place
of safety. The guards were doubled upon him ; the pro-
miscuous concoui'se of people restrained ; a more jealous
care exerted in attending his person — all under color of pro-
tecting him from danger, but really with a view of making
him uneasy in his present situation. These artifices soon
produced the intended effect. Charles, who was naturally
apt to be swayed by counsel, and who had not, then, access'
to any good counsel, took suddenly a i-esolution of with-'
drawing himself, though without any concerted, at least any_
rational, scheme for the future disposal of his person. At- ,
tended only by Sir John Berkeley, Ashburnham, and Leg,
he pi'ivately left Hampton Court ; and his escape was not
discoy.er£d_till near an hour after, when those who entered
his chamber found on the table some letters directed to the
Parliament, to the general, and to the officer wlio had at-
tended him.^" All night he travelled through the forest,
and arrived next day at Tichfield, a seat of the Earl of,
Southampton's, where the countess-dowager resided, a
woman of honor, to whom the king knew he might safely
intrust his person.
Before he arrived at this place he had gone to the sea-
coast, and expressed' great anxiety that a ship which he
seemed to look for had not arrived ; and thence Berkeley
and Leg, who were not in the secret, conjectured that his
intention was to transport himself beyond sea.
The king could not hope to remain long concealed at
Tichfield ; what measure should next be embraced was the
question. In the neighborhood lay the Isle of Wight, of
which Hammond was governor. This man was entirely de-
" Clarendon, vol. v. p. 76. "> Kusliworth, vol, viii. p. 871.
460 HISTORY OF ENGLAXD.
pendent on Cromwell. At his recommendation he had mar-
ried a daughter of the famous Hambden, who, during his
lifetime, had been an intimate friend of CromweU's, and
whose memory was ever respected by him. These circum-
stances were very unfavorable ; yet, because the governor
was nephew to Dr. Hammond, the king's favorite chaplain,
and had acquired a good character in the army, it was
thought proper to have recourse him in the present exi-
gency, when no other rational expedient could he thought
of. Ashburnham and Berkeley were despatched to the
island. They had orders not to inform Hammond of the
place where the king was concealed till they had first ob-
tained a promise from him not to deliver up his majesty,
though the Parliament and the army should require him ;
but to restore him to his liberty, if he could not protect him.
This promise, it is evident, would have been a very slender
security ; yet, even without exacting it, Ashburnham im-
prudently, if not treacherously, brought Hammond to Tich-
field ; and the king was obliged to put himself into his
hands, and to attend him to Carisbroke Castle, in the Isle
of Wight, where, though received with great demonstra-
tions of respect and duty, he was in reality a prisoner.
Lord Clarendon °' is positive that the king, when he fled
from Hampton Court, had no intention of going to this
island ; and indeed all the circumstances of that historian's
narrative, which we have here followed, strongly favor this
opinion. But there remains a letter of Charles's to the
Earl of Laneric, Secretary of Scotland, in which he plainly
Intimates that that measure was voluntarily embraced ; and
even insinuates that, if he had thought proper, he might
have been in Jersey, or any other place of safety.''^ Per-
haps he still confided in the promises of the generals, and
flattered himself that if he were removed from the fury of
the agitators, by which his life was immediately threatened,
they would execute what they had so often promised in his
favor.
Whatever may be the truth in this matter, for it is im-
possible fully to ascertain the truth, Charles never took a
weaker step, nor one more agreeable to Cromwell and all his
enemies. He was now lodged in a place, removed from his
partisans, at the disposal of the army, whence it would be
very difficult to deliver him, either by force or artifice. And
though it was always in the power of Cromwell, whenever
« Pp. 79, 80, etc. 62 See note [EE] at the end of tlie volume.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 461
he pleased, to have sent him thither, yet such a measure,
without the king's consent, would have been very invidious,
if not attended with some danger. That the king should
voluntarily throw himself into the snare, and thereby gratify
his implacable persecutors, was to them an incident pecu-
liarly fortunate, and proved in the issue very fatal to him.
Cromwell, being now entirely master of the Parliament,
and free from all anxiety with regard to the custody of the
king's person, applied himself seriously to quell those dis-
orders in the army which he himself had so artfully raised,
and so successfully employed against both king and Parlia-
ment. In order to engage the troops into a rebellion against
their masters, he had encouraged an arrogant spirit among
the inferior officers and private men ; and the camp, in many
respects, caiTied more the appearance of civil liberty than of
military, obedience. The troops themselves were formed
into a kind of republic ; and the plans of imaginary repub-
lics, for the settlement of the state, were every day the
topics of conversation among these armed legislators. Roy-
alty it was agreed to abolish ; nobility must be set aside ;
even all ranks of men be levelled ; and a universal equality
of property, as well as of power, be introduced among the
citizens. The saints, they said, were the salt of the earth ;
an entire parity had place among the elect ; and by the
same rule that the apostles were exalted from the most ig-
noble professions, the meanest sentinel, if enlightened by the
Spirit, was entitled to equal regard with the greatest com-
mander. In order to wean the soldiers from these licentious
maxims, Cromwell had issued orders for discontinuing the
meetings of the agitators ; and he pretended to pay entire
obedience to the Parliament, whom, being now fully reduced
to subjection, he purpose.! to make, for the future, the in-
struments of his authority. But the Levellers, for so that
party in the array was called, having experienced the sweets
of dominion, would not so easily be deprived of it. They
secretly continued their meetings ; they asserted that their
officers, as much as any part of the Church or State, needed
refoi-mation ; several regiments joined in seditious remon-
strances and petitions ; *' sepai'ate rendezvous were concert-
ed ; and everything tended to anarchy and confusion. But
this distemper was soon cured by the rough but dexterous
hand of Ci-omwell. He chose the opportunity of a review,
tliat he might display the greater boldness and spread the
'3 Kushwortl), vol. viii. pp. 845, 850.
462 HisTOET or England.
terror the wider. He seized the ringleaders before their
companions, held in the field a council of war, shot one mu-
tineer instantly, and struck such dread into the rest that
they presently threw down the symbols of sedition which
they had displayed, and thenceforth returned to their wont-
ed discipline and obedience."
Cromwell had great deference for the counsels of Ireton,
a man who, having grafted the soldier on the lawyer, the
statesman on the saint, had adopted such principles as were
fitted to introduce the severest tyranny, while they seemed
to encourage the most unbounded license in human society.
Fierce in his nature, though probably sincere in his inten-
tions, he purposed by arbitrary power to establish liberty,
and in prosecution of his imagined religious purposes he
thought himself dispensed from all the ordinary rules of
morality by which inferior mortals must allow themselves
to be governed. From his suggestion, Cromwell secretly
called, at Windsor, a council of the chief officers, in order
to deliberate concerning the settlement of the nation and
the future disposal of the king's person .^^ In this confer-
ence, which commenced with devout prayers, poured forth
by Cromwell himself, and other inspired persons (for the
officers of this army received inspiration with their commis-
sions), was first opened the daring and unheard-of counsel of
bringing the king to justice, and of punishing, by judicial
sentence, their sovereign for his pretended tyranny and
maladministration. While Charles lived, even though re-
strained to the closest prison, conspiracies, they knew, and
insurrections, would never be wanting in favor of a prince
who was so extremely revered and beloved by his own
party, and whom the nation in general began to regard with
great affection and compassion. To murder him privately
was exposed to the imputation of injustice and cruelty,
aggravated by the baseness of such a crime ; and every
odious epithet of traitor and assassin would, by the general
voice of mankind, be indisputably ascribed to the actors in
such a villany. Some unexpected procedure must be at-
tempted, which would astonish the world by its novelty,
would bear the semblance of justice, and would cover its
barbarity by the audaciousness of the enterprise. Striking
in with the fanatical notions of the entire equality of man-
kind, it would insure the devoted obedience of the army,
M Ruflliworth, vol. viii. p. 875. Clarendon, vol. v. p. 87,
oi* Clarendon, vol. v. p. UU.
HISTOEY OF ENULAJfD. 463
and serve as a general engagement against the royal family,
whom, by their open and united deed, they would so hei-
nously affront and injure.^"
This measure, therefore, being secretly resolved on, it
was requisite, by degrees, to make the Parliament adopt it,
and to conduct them from violence to violence, till this last
act of atrocious iniquity should seem in a manner wholly
inevitable. The king, in order to remove those fears and
jealousies which were perpetually pleaded as reasons for
every invasion of tlie constitution, had offered, by a message
sent from Carisbroke Castle, to resign, during his own life,
the power of the militia and the nomination to all the great
offices ; provided that, after his demise, these prerogatives
should revert to the crown." But the Parliament acted
entirely as victors and enemies ; and, in all their transactions
with him, paid no longer any regard to equity or reason.
At the instigation of the Independents and army, they
neglected this offer, and framed. four proposals, which they
sent him as preliminaries; andbefore they would deign to
treat, they demanded his positive assent to all of them. By
Qn^Jie was required to invest the Parliament with the mili-
taly^power for twenty years, together with an authority to
levy whatever money should be necessary for exercising it ;
and, even after the twenty years should be elapsed, they
reserved a right of resuming the same authority whenever
they should declare the safety of the kingdom to require it.
By the second, he was to recall all his proclamations! and
declarations against the Parliament, and acknowledge that
assembly to have taken arms in their just and necessary
defence. By the third, he was to annul all the acts and
void all the patents of peerage which had passed the great
seal since it had^been carried from London by Lord Keeper
Littleton; and, at the same time, renounce for the future the
power of making peers without consent of Parliament. By
the fourth, he gave the two Houses power to adjourn as
they thought proper — a demand seemingly of no great
importance, hut contrived by^ the Independents that they
might be able to remove the Parliament to places where it
should remain in perpetual subjection to the army.^'
■*« The foUowing was a favorite text among the enthusiasts of tliat age : " Let
the high praises of God be in the mouths of his saints, and a two-edged sword in
tbeii" hand ; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the
people ; to l)ind tlieir Icings willi chains, and tlieir nobles with fetters of iron ;, to
execute upon them the judgment writteji : this honor have all his saints." — Psahu
cxlix. 6,7,8,9. Hugh Peters, the mad chaplain of Cromwell, preached frequently
upon this text. ^^ Knshworth, vol. viii. p. 880. ^"^ Clarendon, vol. v. p. 88.
464 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
[1648.] The king i-egarded the pretension as unusual
and exorbitant tliat he should make such concessions, while
not secure of any settlement, and should blindly trust his
enemies for the conditions which they were afterwards to
grant him. He required, therefore, a personal treaty with
the Parliament, and desired that all the terms on both sides
should be adjusted before any concession on either, side
should be insisted on. The republican party in the House
pretended to take fire at this answer ; and openly inveighed,
in violent terms, against the person and government of the
king, whose name hitherto had commonly, in all debates,
been mentioned with some degree of reverence. Ireton,
seeming to speak the sense of the army-, under the appella-
tion of many thousand godly men who had ventured their
lives in defence of the Parliament, said that the king, by
denying the four bills, had refused safety and protection to
his people ; that their obedience to him was but a reciprocal
dut.y for his protection of them ; and that, as he had failed
on his part, they were freed from all obligations to allegi-
ance, and must settle the nation without consulting any
longer so misguided a prince.^** Cromwell, after giving an
ample character of the valor, good affections, and godliness
of tlie army, subjoined that it was expected the Parliament
should guide and defend the kingdom by their own j)ower
and resolutions, and not accustom the people any longer to
expect safety and government from an obstinate man, whose
heart God had hardened ; that those who, at the expense of
tjieir blood, had hitlierto defended the Parliament from so
many dangers would still continue, with fidelity and courage,
to protect them against all opposition in this vigorous
measure. " Teach them not," added he, "by your neglect-
ing your own safety and that of the kingdom (in which
theirs too is involved), to imagine themselves betrayed, and
their interests abandoned to the rage and malice of an
irreconcilable enemy, whom, for your sake, they have dared
to provoke. Beware," and at these words he laid his hand
on his sword — "beware, lest despair cause them to seek
safety by some other means than by adhering to you, who
know not how to consult your own safety." ™ Such argu-
ments prevailed, though ninety-one members had still the
courage to oppose. It was voted that no more addresses be
made to the king, nor any letters or messages be received
from him ; and that it be treason for any one, without leave
M Clement Walker, p. 70. eo ibid.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 465
of the two Houses, to have any intercourse with him. The
Lords concurred in the same ordinance."
By this vote of non-addresses (so it was called) the king
was in reality dethroned, and the whole constitution formally
overthrown. So violent a measure was supported by a
declaration of the Commons no less violent. The blackest
calumnies were there thrown upon the king, such as, even, in
their famous remonstrance, they thought proper to omit as
incredible and extravagant — the poisoning of his father, the
betraying of Rochelle, the contriving of the Irish massacre."
By blasting his fame, had that injury been in their power,
they formed a very proper prelude to the executing of vio-
lence on his person.
No sooner had the king refused his assent to the four
bills than Hammond, by orders from the army, removed all
his servants, cut off his correspondence with his friends, and
shut him up in close confinement. The king afterwards
showed to Sir Philip Warwick a decrepit old man, who, he
said, was employed to kindle his fire, and was the best com-
pany he enjoyed during several months that this rigorous
confinement lasted.''^ No amusement was allowed him, nor
society, which might relieve his anxious thoughts. To be
speedily poisoned or assassinated was the only prospect
which he had every moment before his eyes, for he enter-
tained no apprehension of a judicial sentence and execution
— an event of which no history hitherto furnished an example.
Meanwhile the Parliament was very industrious in publish-
ing from time to time the intelligence which they received
from Hammond; how cheerful the king was, how pleased
with every one that approached him, how satisfied in his
present condition;" as if the view of such benignity and
constancy had not been more proper to inflame than allay
the general compassion of the people. The great source
whence the king derived consolation amid all his calamities
was undoubtedly religion — a principle which in him seems
to have contained nothing fierce or gloomy, nothing which
enraged him against his adversaries, or terrified him with
the dismal prospect of futurity. While everything around
him bore a hostile aspect, while friends, family relations,
whom he passionately loved, were placed at a distance and
unable to serve him, he rejDosed himself with confidence in
"' Riishworth. vol. viii. pp. 965, SB7.
"^ Eushwovth, vol. viii. p. 998. Ulareudon, vol. v. p. 93,
Whitlocke, p. 360. "2 Quthry.
476 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
more severe and arbitrary government than was generally
exercised by the patrons of liberty in both kingdoms.
The siege of Colchester terminated in a manner no less
unfortunate than Hamilton's engagement for the royal
cause. After suffering the utmost extremities of famine,
after feeding on the vilest aliments, the garrison desired, at
last, to capitulate. Fairfax required them to surrender at
discretion ; and he gave such an explanation to these terms
as to reserve to himself power, if he pleased, to put them all
instantly to the sword. The officers endeavored, though in
vain, to persuade the soldiers, by making a vigorous sally,
to break through, at least to sell their lives as dearly as pos-
sible. They were obliged ^' to accept of the conditions
offered ; and Fairfax, instigated by Ireton, to whom Crom-
well, in his absence, had consigned over the government of
the passive general, seized Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George
Lisle, and resolved to make them instant sacrifices to mil-
itary justice. This unusual severity was loudly exclaimed
against by all the prisoners. Lord C.apel, fearless of danger,
reproached Ireton with it, and challenged him, as they were
all engaged in the same honorable cause, to exercise the
same impartial vengeance on all of them. Lucas was first
shot, and he himself gave orders to fire, with the same
alacrity as if he had commanded a platoon of his own
soldiers. Lisle instantly ran and kissed the dead body,
then cheerfully presented himself to a like fate. Thinking
that the soldiers destined for his execution stood at too
great a distance, he called to them to come nearer. One of
them replied, "I'll warrant you, sir, we'll hit you." He an-
swered, smiling, "Friends, I have been nearer you when
you have missed me." Thus perished this generous spirit,
not less beloved for his modesty and humanity than esteemed
for his courage and military conduct.
Soon after, a gentleman appearing in the' king's presence
clothed in mourning for Sir Ch.arles Lucas, that humane
prince, suddenly recollecting the hard fate of his friends,
paid them a tribute, which none of his own unparalleled
misfortunes ever extorted from him. He dissolved into a
flood of tears."*
By these multiplied successes of the array they had sub-
dued all their enen ies, and nonfe remained but the helpless
king and Parliament to oppose their violent measures.
From Ci-omwell's suggestion a remonstrance was drawn by
83 August 18. M Whitlocke.
HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. 477
the council of general officers and sent to the Parliament.
They there complain of the treaty with the king ; demand
his punishment for the blood spilled during the war ; re-
quire a dissolution of the present Parliament, and a more
equal representation for the future ; and assert that, though
servants, they are entitled to represent these important
points to their masters, who are themselves no better than
servants and trustees of the people. At the same time tliey
advanced with the army to Windsor, and sent Colonel Eure
to seize the king's person at Newport, and convey him to
Hurst Castle in the neighborhood, where he was detained in
strict confinement.
This measure being foreseen some time before, the king
was exhorted to make liis escape, which was conceived to be
very easy ; but having given his word to the Parliament not
to attempt the recovery of his liberty during the treaty, and
three weeks after, he would not, by any persuasion, be in-
duced to hazard the reproach of violating that protnise. In
vain was it urged that a promise given to the Parliament
could no longer be binding, since they could no longer
afford him protection from violence threatened him by
other persons to whom he was bound by no tie or engage-
ment. The king would indulge no refinements of casuistry,
however plausible, in such delicate subjects ; and was re-
solved that whsft depredations soever fortune should com-
mit upon him, she never should bereave him of his honor.^*
The Parliament lost not courage, notv/ithstanding the
danger with which they were so nearly menaced. Though
without any plan for resisting military usurpations, they re-
solved to withstand them to the uttermost, and rather to
bring on a violent and visible subversion of government
than lend their authority to those illegal and sanguinary
measures which were projected. They set aside the re-
monstrance of the army, without deigning to answer it ;
they voted the seizing of the king's person to be without
their consent, and sent a message to the general to know by
what authority that enterprise had been executed, and they
issued orders that the army should advance no nearer to
London.
Hollis, the present leader of the Presbyterians, was a
man of unconquerable intrepidity, and many others of that
party seconded his magnanimous spirit. It was proposed
by them that the generals and principal officers should, for
»5 Colonel Cooke'B Memoirs, p. 174. Bushworth, vol. viii. p. 1347.
478 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
their disobedience and usui-pations, be proclaimed traitors
by the Parliament.
But the Parliament was dealing with men who would
not be frightened by words nor retarded by any scrupulous
delicacy. The generals, under the name of Fairfax (for he
still allowed them to employ his name), marched the army
to London, and, placing guards in Whitehall, the Mews, St.
James's, Durham House, Covent Garden, and Palace Yard,
surrounded the Parliament with their hostile armaments.
The Parliament, destitute of all hopes of prevailing, re-
tained, however, courage to resist. They attempted, in the
face of the army, to close their treaty with the king ; and
though they had formerly voted his concessions with regard
to the Church and delinquents to be unsatisfactory, they
now took into consideration the final resolution with regard
to the whole. After a violent debate of thi'ee days, it was
carried by a majority of one hundred and twenty-nine
against eighty-three, in the House of Commons, that tlie
king's concessions were a founxJation for the Houses to pro-
ceed upon in the settlement of the kingdom.
Next day, when the Commons were to meet, Colonel
Pride, formerly a drayman, had environed the House with
two regiments ; and, directed by Lord Grey of Groby, he
seized in the passage forty-one members of the Presbyterian
party and sent them to a low room, which passed by the ap-
pellation of hell, whence they were afterwards carried to
several inns. Above one hundred and sixty members more
were excluded ; and none were allowed to enter but the
most furious and the most determined of the Independents,
and these exceeded not the number of fifty or sixty. This
invasion of the Parliament commonly passed under the
name of Colonel PricMs purge, so much disposed was the
nation to make merry with the dethroning of those mem-
bers who had violently arrogated the whole authority of
government and deprived the king of his legal prerogatives.
The subsequent proceedings of the Parliament, if this
diminutive assembly deserve that honorable name, retain
not the least appearance of law, equity, or freedom. Thev
instantly reversed the former vote and declared the king's
concessions unsatisfactory. They determined that no mem-
ber, absent at this last vote, should be received till he sub-
scribed it as agreeable to his judgment. They renewed
their former vote of non-addresses. And they committed
to prison Sir William Waller, Sir John Clotworthy, the
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 479
generals Massey, Brown, Copley, and other leaders of the
P)-esbyterians. These men, by their credit and authority,
which was then very high, had, at the commencement of the
war, supported the Parliament, and thereby prepared the
way for the greatness of the present leaders, who, at that
time, were of small account in the nation.
The secluded members having published a paper contain-
ing a narrative of the violence which had been exercised
upon them, and a protestation that all acts were void which
from that time had been transacted in the House of Com-
mons, the remaining members encountered it with a dec-
laration, in which they pronounced it false, scandalous,
seditious, and tending to the destruction of the visible and
fundamental government of the kingdom.
The sudden and violent revolutions held the whole
nation in terror and astonishment. Every man dreaded to
be trampled under foot, in the contention between those
mighty powers which disputed for the sovereignty of the
state. Many began to withdraw their effects beyond sea ;
foreigners scrupled to give any credit to a people so torn by
domestic faction and oppressed by military usurpation ;
even the internal commerce of the kingdom began to stag-
nate. And in order to remedy these growing evils the geur
erals, in the name of the army, published a declaration, in
which they expressed their resolution of supporting law and
justice.'"
The more to quiet the minds of men, the council of
officers took into consideration a scheme called the agree-
ment of the people, being the plan of a republic to be sub-
stituted in the place of that government which they had so ,
violently pulled in pieces. Many parts of this scheme for "
correcting the inequalities of the representative are plaus-
ible, had the nation been disposed to receive it, or had the
army intended to impose it. Other parts are too perfect
■for human nature, and savor strongly of that fanatical
spirit so prevalent throughout the kingdom.
The height of all iniquity and fanatical extravagance
yet remained — the public trial, and execution of the sover-
eign. To this period was every measure precipitated by
the zealous Independents. The parliamentary leaders of
that party had intended that the army themselves should
execute that daring enterprise ; and they deemed so irregular
and lawless a deed best fitted to such irregular and lawless
»5 Eushworth, vol. yiii. p. 1364.
480 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
instruments.'^ But the generals were too wis^ to load
themselves singly with the infamy which they knew must
attend an action so shocking to the general sentiments of
mankind. The Parliament, they were resolved, should
share with them the reproach of a measure which was
thought requisite for the advancement of their common
ends of safety and ambition. In the House of Commons,
therefore, a committee was appointed to bring in a charge
against the king. On their report a vote passed declaring
it treason in a king to levy war against his Parliament
and appointing a high court of justice to try Charles for
this new-invented treason. This vote was sent up to the
House of Peers.
The House of Peers, during the civil wars, had all along
been of small account ; but it had lately, since the king's
fall, become totally contemptible, and very few members
would submit to the mortification of attending it. It hap-
pened that day to be fuller than usual, and they were
assembled to the number of sixteen. Without one dissent-
ing voice, and almost without deliberation, they instantly
rejected the vote of the lower House and adjourned them-
selves for ten days, hoping that this delay would be able to
retard the furious career of the Commons.
[1649.] The Commons were not to be stopped by so
small an obstacle. Having first established a principle
"which is noble in itself and seems specious, but is belied by
all history and experience, that the people are the origin of
all just power^ they next declared that the Commons of
-England, assembled in Parliament, being chosen by the
people, and representing them, are the supreme authority
of the nation, and that whatever is enacted and declared to
be law by the Commons hath the force of law, without the
consent of king or House of Peers. The ordinance for
the trial of Charles Stuart, King of England, so they called
him, was again read, and unanimously assented to.
In proportion to the enormity of the violences and
usurpations were augmented the pretences of sanctity
among those regicides. " Should any one have voluntarily
proposed," said Cromwell in the House, " to bring the king
to punishment, I should have regarded him as the greatest
traitor; but, since Providence and necessity have Oast us
upon it, I will pray to God for a blessing on your counsels,
though I am not prepared to give you any advice on this
" Wliitlocke.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 481
important occasion. Even I myself," subjoined he, " when
I was lately offering up petitions for his majesty's restora-
tion, felt my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, and
considered this preternatural movement as the answer
which Heaven, having rejected the king, had sent to my
supplications."
A woman of Hertfordshire, illuminated by prophetical
visions, desired admittance into the military council, and
communicated to the officers a revelation which assured
them that their measures were consecrated from above and
ratified by a heavenly sanction. This intelligence gave
them great comfort and much confirmed them in their
present resolutions."*
Colonel Harrison, the son of a butcher, and the most
furious enthusiast in the army, was sent with a strong party
to conduct the king to London. At Windsor, Hamilton,
who was there detained a prisoner, was admitted into the
king's presence; alid, falling on his knees, passionately 6x-
claimed, " My dear master!" "I have indeed been so to
you," replied Charles, embracing him. No further inter-
course was allowed between them. The king was instantly
hurried away. Hamilton long followed him with his eyes,
all suffused in tears, and prognosticated that in this short '
salutation he had given the last adieu to his sovereign and
his friend.
Charles himself was assured that the period of his life
was now approaching ; but, notwithstanding all the prepara-
tions which were making and the intelligence which he
received, he could not even yet believe that his enemies'
really meant to conclude their violences by a public trial
and execution. A private assassination he every moment
looked for; and, though Harrison assured him that his
apprehensions were entirely groundless, it was by that
catastrophe, so frequent with dethroned princes, that he
expected to terminate his life. In appearance, as well as in
reality, the king was now dethroned. All the exterior symbols
of sovereignty were withdrawn, and his attendants had
orders to serve him without ceremony. At first he was
shocked with instances of rudeness and familiarity, to which
he had been so little accustomed. Nothing so contemptible
as a despised prince ! was the reflection which they sug-
gested to him. But he soon reconciled his mind to this, as
he had done to his other calamities.
* WMtlocke, p. 360.
Vol. IV.— 31
482 HISTOET OF ENGLAWD.
All the circumstances of the trial were now adjustecl ;
and the high court of justice fully constituted. It consisted
of one hundred and thirty-three persons as named by the
Commons ; but there scarcely ever sat above seventy— so
difficult was it, notwithstanding the blindness of prejudice
and the allurements of interest, to engage men of any
name or character in that criminal measure. Cromwell,
Ireton, Harrison, and the chief officers of the army, mpst
:oE them of mean birth, were members, together with sbrtis
of the lower House, and some citizens of London. The
twelve judges were at first appointed in the number ; but,
as they had affirmed that it was contrary to all the ideas of
English law to try the king for treason, by whose authority
all accusations for treason must necessarily be conducted,
tlieir names, as well as those of some peers, were after-
wards struck out. Bradshaw, a lawyer, was chosen presi-
dent. Coke was appointed solicitor for the people _ of
England. Dorislaus, Steele, and Aske were named assist-
ants. The court sat in Westminster Hall.
It is remarkable that, in calling over the court, when
the crier pronounced the name of Faii-fax, which had been
inserted in the number, a voice came from one of the
spectators and cried, " He has more wit than to be here."
When the charge was read against the king, " In the name
of the people of England," the same voice exclaimed, " Not
a tenth part of them." Axtel, the officer who guarded the
court, giving orders to fire into the box whence these in-
solent speeches came, it was discovered that Lady Fairfax
was there, and that it was she who had had the courage to
utter them. She was a person of noble extraction, daughter
of Horace, Lord Vere of Tilbury ; but, being seduced by
the violence of the times, she had long seconded her hus-
band's zeal against the royal cause, and was now, as well as
he, struck with abhorrence at the fatal and unexpected con-
sequence of all his boasted victories.
The pomp, the dignity, the ceremony of this transaction
corresponded to the greatest conception that is suggested
in the annals of human kind; the delegates of a great
people sitting in judgment upon their supreme magistrate,
and trying him for his misgovernment and breach of trust.
The solicitor, in the name of the Commons, represented
that Charles Stuart, being admitted King of England and
intrusted with a limited ])ower, yet nevertheless, from a
wicked design to erect an unlimited and tyrannical govern-
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 483
ment, had traitorously and maliciously levied war against
the present Parliament and the people whom they repre-
sented, and was therefore impeached as a tyrant; traitor,
murderer, and a public and implacable enemy to the com-
monwealth. After the charge was finished, the president
directed his discourse to the king, and told him that the
court expected his answer.
The king, though long detained a prisoner, and now pro-
duced as a criminal, sustained, by his magnanimous cour-
age, the majesty of a monarch. With great temper and
dignity, he declined the authority of the court, and refused
to submit himself to their jurisdiction. He represented
that, having been engaged in treaty with his two Houses of
Parliament, and having finished almost every article, he had
expected to be brought to his capital in another manner,
atld ere this time to have been restored to his power, dig-
nity, revenue, as well as to his personal liberty : that he
could not now perceive any appearance of the upper House,
so essential a member of the constitution ; and had learned
that even the Commons, whose authority was pretended,
were subdued by lawless force, and were bereaved of their
liberty : that he liimself was their " native, hereditary
king ; " "nor was the whole authority of the state, though
fi-ee and united, entitled to try him who derived his dignity
from the Supreme Majesty of Heaven : that, admitting
those extravagant principles wliich levelled all orders of
men, the court could plead no power delegated by the peo-
ple unless the consent of every individual, down to the
meanest and most ignorant peasant, had been previously
asked and obtained : that he acknowledged, without scru-
ple, that he had a trust committed to him, and one most
sacred and inviolable ; he was intrusted with the liberties
of his people, and would not now betray them by recogniz-
ing a power founded on the most atrocious violence and
usurpation : that having taken arms, and frequently exposed
his life in defence of public liberty, of the constitution, of
the fundamental laws of the kingdom, he was as willing, in
this last and most solemn scene, to seal with his blood those
precious rights for which, though in vain, he had so long,
contended : that those who arrogated a title to sit as his ;
judges were born his subjects, and born subjects to those j
laws which determined that the Mng can do no wrong : that""*
he was not reduced to the necessity of sheltering himself
under this general maxim, which guards every English mon-
484' HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
arch, even tne least deserving ; but was able, by the most
satisfactory reasons, to justify those measures in which he
had been engaged : that to the whole world, and even to
them, his pretended judges, he was desirous, if called upon
in another manner, to prove the integrity of his conduct,
and assert the justice of tliose defensive arms to which, un-
willingly and unfortunateljr, he had had recourse ; but that,
in order to preserve a uniformity of conduct, he must at
present forego the apology of his innocence, lest, by ratify-
ing an authority no better founded than that of robbers and
pirates, he be justly branded as the betrayer, instead of
being applauded as the martyr, of the constitution.
The president, in order to support the majesty of the
people and maintain the superiority of his court above the
prisoner, still inculcated that he must not decline the au-
thority of his judges; that they overruled his objections;
that they were delegated by the people, the only source of
every lawful power ; and that kings themselves acted but in
trust from that community which had invested this high
court of justice with its jurisdiction. Even according to
those principles, which in his present situation he was per-
haps obliged to adopt, his behavior in general will appear
not a little harsh and barbarous ; but when we consider him
as a subject, and one too of no high character, addressing
himself to his unfortunate sovereign, his style will be es-
teemed, to the last degree, audacious and insolent.
Three times was Charles produced before the court, and
as often declined their jurisdiction. On the fourth, the
judges having examined some witnesses, by whom it was
proved that the king had appeared in arms against the
forces commissioned by the Parliament, they pronounced
sentence against him. He seemed very anxious at this time
('to be admitted to a conference with the two Houses, and it
was supposed that he intended to resign the crown to his
son ; but the court refused compliance, and considered that
request as nothing but a delay of justice.
It is confessed that the king's behavior during this last
scene of Kis life does honor to liis memory, and that in all
appearances before his judges he never forgot his part either
as a prince or as a man. Firm and intrepid, he maintained
in each reply the utmost perspicuity and justness both of
thought and expression ; mild and equable, he rose into no
passion at that unusual authority which was assumed over
him His soul, without effort or affectation, seemed only
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 485
to remain in the situation familial" to it, and to look down
with contempt on all the efforts of human malice and in-
iquity. The soldiers, instigated by their superiors, were
brought, though with difficulty, to cry aloud for justice.
" Poor souls ! " said the king to one of his attendants ; " for
a little money they would do as much against their com-
manders." ^^ Some of them were permitted to go the ut-
most length of brutal insolence, and to spit in his face as he
was conducted along the passage to the court. To excite a
sentiment of pity was the only effect which this inhuman
insult was able to produce upon him.
The people, though under the rod of lawless unlimited
power, could not forbear, with the most ardent prayers,
pouring forth their wishes for his preservation ; and in his
present distress, they avowed him, by their generous tears,
for their monarch whom, in their misguided fury, they had
before so violently rejected. The king was softened at this
moving scheme, and expressed his gratitude for their duti-
ful affection. One soldier, too, seized by contagious sympa-
thy, demanded from Heaven a blessing on oppressed and
fallen majesty. His officer, overhearing the prayer, Deat
him to the ground in the king's presence. " The punish-
ment, methinks, exceeds the offence : " this was the reflec-
tion which Charles formed on that occasion.'""'
As soon as the intention of trying the king was known
in foreign countries, so enormous an action was exclaimed
against by the general voice of reason and humanity ; and all
men, under whatever form of government they were born,
rejected this example as the utmost effort of undisguised
usurpation, and the most heinous insult on law and justice.
The French ambassador, by orders from his court, inter-
posed in the king's behalf ; the Dutch employed their good
offices ; the Scots exclaimed and protested against the vio-
lence ; the queen, the prince, wrote pathetic letters to the
Parliament. All solicitations were found fruitless with men
whose resolutions were fixed and irrevocable.
Fo.ur of Charles's friends, persons of virtue and dignity
— ^Richmond, Hertford, Southampton, Lindesey — applied to
the Commons. They represented that they were the king's
counsellors, and had concurred by their advice in all those
measures which were now imputed as crimes to their royal
master ; that in the eye of the law, and according to the
dictates of common reason, they alone were guilty, and
M Kushworth, vol. viii. p. 1425. i" "Warwick, p. 339.
486 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
were alone exposed to censure for every blamable action of
the prince ; and that they now presented themselves, in
order to save by their own punishment that precious life
which it became the Commons themselves, and every sub-
ject, with the utmost hazard, to protect and defend.^"^ Such
a generous effort tended to their honor, but contributed
nothing towards the king's safety.
The people remained in that silence and astonishment
which all great passions, when they have not an opportunity
of exerting themselves, naturally produce in the human
mind. The soldiers, being incessantly plied with prayers,
sermons, and exhortations, were wrought up to a degree of
fury, and imagined that in the acts of the most extreme dis-
loyalty towards their prince consisted their greatest merit
in the eye of Heaven.^"^
Three days were allowed the king between his sentence
and his execution. This interval he passed with great tran-
quillity, chiefly in reading and devotion. All his family
that remained in England were allowed access to him. It
consisted only of the Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of
Gloucester, for the Duke of York had made his escape.
Gloucester was little more than an infant ; the princess, not-
withstanding her tender years, showed an advanced judg-
ment, and the calamities of her family had made a deep
impression upon her. After many pious consolations and
advices, the king gave her in charge to tell the queen that
during the whole course of his life he had never once, even
in thought, failed in his fidelity towards her ; and that his
conjugal tenderness and his life should have an equal dura^
tion.
To the young duke, too, he could not forbear giving
some advice, in order to season his mind with early princi-
ples of loyalty and obedience towards his brother, who was
so soon to be his sovereign. Holding him on his knee, he
said, " Now they will cut off thy father's head." At these
words the child looked very steadfastly upon him. " Mark,
child, what I say : they will cut off my head ! and perhaps
make thee a king. But mark what I say : thou must not be
a king as long as thy brothers Charles and James are alive.
They will cut off thy brothers' heads when they can catch
them ! And thy head too they will cut off at last ! There-
fore, I charge thee, do not be made a king by them ! " The
Ml Periiiolief, p. S5. Ijloy^le, p. 319.
102 Burnet's History o£ his Own Times.
HISTOEY OF EK-GLAND. 487
duke, sighing, replied, " I will be torn in pieces first ! " So
determined an answer, from one in such tender years, filled
the king's eyes with tears of joy and admiration.
Every night, during this interval, th& king slept sound
as usual ; though the noise of workmen employed in fram-
ing the scaffold, and other preparations for his execution,
continually resounded in his ears.^°' The morning of the
fatal day he rose early ; and calling Herbert, one of his at-
tendants, he bade him employ more than usual care in dress-
ing him, and preparing him for-,so great and joyful a solem-
nity^. Bishop Juxon, a man endowed with the same mild
and steady virtues by which the king himself was so much
distinguished, assisted him in his devotions, and paid the
last melancholy duties to his friend and sovereign.
The street before Whitehall was the place destined for
the execution ; for it was intended, by choosing that very
place, in sight of his own palace, to display more evidently
the triumph of popular justice over royal majesty. When
the king came upon the scaffold, he found it so surrounded
with soldiers that he could not expect to be heard by any i
of the people. He addressed, therefore, his discourse to
the few persons who were about him ; particularly Colonel
Tomlinson, to whose care he had lately been committed,
and upon whom, as upon many others, his amiable deports
ment had wrought an entire conversion. He justified his
own innocence in the late fatal wars, and observed that he
had not taken arms till after the Parliament had enlisted
forces ; nor had he any other object in his warlike opera-
tions than to preserve that authority entire which his pred-
ecessors had transmitted to him. He threw not, however,
the blame upon the Parliament, but was more inclined to
think that ill instruments had interposed, and raised in them
fears and jealousies with regard to his intentions. Though
innocent towards his people, he acknowledged the equity
of his execution in the eyes of his Maker ; and observed
that an unjust sentence which he had suffered to take effect
was now punished by an unjust sentence upon himself. He
forgave all his enemies, even the chief instruments of his
death ; but exhorted them and the whole nation to return
to the ways of peace by paying obedience to their lawful
sovereign, his son and successor. When he was preparing
himself for the Wock, Bishop Juxon called to him, " There
is, sir, but one stage more, which, though turbulent and
ii>3 Clement Walker's History of Independency;
488 HISTORY or englaxd.
troublesome, is yet a very short one. Consider, it will soon
carry you a great way ; it will carry you from earth to
heaven; and there you shall find, to your great joy ,^^the
prize to which you hasten— a crown of glory. " 1 go, re-
plied the king, "from a corruptible to an incorruptible
crown, where no disturbance can have place." _ At one blow
was his head severed from his body. A man in a visor per-
formed the office of executioner ; another in a like disguise
held up to the spectators the head streaming with blood,
and cried aloud, " This is the head of a traitor ! "
It is impossible to describe the grief, indignation, and
astonishment which took place, not only among the specta-
tors, who were overwhelmed with a flood of sorrow, but
throughout the whole nation, as soon as the report of this
fatal execution was conveyed to them. Never monarch, in
the full triumph of success and victory, was more dear to
his people than his misfortunes and magnanimity, his pa-
tience and piety, had rendered this unhappy prince. In
proportion to their former delusions which had animated
them against him was the violence of their return to duty
and affection ; while each reproached himself either with
active disloyalty towards him, or with too indolent defence
of his oppressed cause. On weaker minds, the effect of
these complicated passions was prodigious. Women are
said to have cast forth the untimely fruit of their womb ;
others fell into convulsions, or sank into such a melancholy
as attended them to their grave ; nay, some, unmindful of
themselves, as though they could not or would not survive
their beloved prince, it is reported suddenly fell down dead.
The very pulpits were bedewed with unsuborned tears —
those pulpits which had formerly thundered out the most
violent imprecations and anathemas against him. And all
men united in their detestation of those hypocritical parri-
cides who, by sanctified pretences, had so long disguised
their treasons, and in this last act of iniquity had thrown an
indelible stain upon the nation.
A fresh instance of hypocrisy was displayed the very
day of the king's death. The generous Fairfax, not con-
tent with being absent from the trial, had used all the inter-
est which he yet retained to prevent the execution of the fatal
sentence ; and had even employed persuasion with his own
regiment, though none else would follow him, to rescue the
king from his disloyal mui-derers. Cromwell and Ireton,
informed of this intention, endeavored to convince him that
HISTORY OP ENGLAKD. 489
the Lord had rejected the king ; and they exhorted him to
seek by prayer some direction from Heaven on this impor-
tant occasion ; but they concealed from him that they had
already signed the warrant for the execution. Harrison
was the person appointed to join in prayer with the unwary
general. By agreement, he prolonged his doleful cant till
intelligence arrived that the fatal blow was struck. He
then rose from his knees, and insisted with Fairfax that this
event was a miraculous and providential answer, which
Heaven had sent to their devout supplications.^"*
It being remarked that the king, the moment before he
stretched out his neck to the executioner, had said to Jux-
on, with a very earnest accent, the single word " Remem-
ber," great mysteries were supposed to be concealed under
that expression, and the generals vehemently insisted with
the prelate that he should inform them of the king's mean-
ing. Juxon told them that the king, having frequently
charged him to inculcate on his son the forgiveness of his
murderers, had taken this opportunity, in the last moment
of his life, when his commands, he supposed, would be re-'
garded as sacred and inviolable, to reiterate that desire ;
and that his mild spirit thus ' terminated its present course
by an act of benevolence towards his greatest enemies.
The character of this prince, as that of most men, if not
of all men, was mixed ; l)i}l his virtues predominated ex-
tj'emely above his vices, or, more properly speaking, his im-
perfections; for scarce any of his faults rose to that pitch
as to merit the appellation of vices. To consider him in
the most favorable light, it may be affirmed that his dignity
was free from pride, his humanity from weakness, his
bravery from rashness, his temperance from austerity, his
:^'ugality from avarice ; all these virtues, in him, maintained
tlieir proper bounds, and merited unreserved praise. I'o
speak the most harshly of him, we may affirm that many of
his good qualities were attended with some latent frailty,
which, though seemingly inconsiderable, was able, when
seconded by the extreme malevolence of his fortune, to dis-
appoint them of all their influence ; his beneficent disposi-
tion was clouded by a manner not very gracious ; his vir-
tue was tinctured with superstition ; his good sense was dis-
figured by a deference to persons of a capacity inferior to
his own ; and his moderate temper exempted him not from
hasty and precipitate resolutions. He deserves the epithet
iM Herbert, p. 133.
490 HISTOKT OF ENGLAND.
of a good, rather than of a great man ; and was more
fitted to rule in a regular established government than either
to give way to the encroachments of a popular assembly, or
finally to subdue their pretensions. He wanted suppleness
and dexterity sufficient for the first measure ; he was not
endowed with the vigor requisite for the second. Had he
been born an absolute 'prince, his humanity and good sense
had rendered his reign happy and his memory precious ; liad
tlie limitations on prerogative been in his time quite fixed
and certain, his integrity had made him regard as sacred the
boundaries of the constitution. Unhappily, his fate threw
him into a period when the precedents of many former reigns
savored strongly of arbitrary power, and the genius of the
people ran violently towards liberty. And it'his political
prudence was not sufficient to extricate hini from so peril-
ous a situation, he may be excused ; since even after the
event, wlien it is commonly easy to correct all errors, one
is at a loss to determine what conduct, in his circumstances,
could have maintained the authority of the crown and pre-
served the peace of the nation. Exposed, without revenue,
without arms, to the assault of furious, implacable, and big-
oted factions, it was never permitted him, but with the most
fatal consequences, to commit the smallest mistake — a con-
dition too rigorous to be imposed on the greatest human
capacity.
Some historians have rashly questioned the good faith
of this prince ; but for this reproach the most malignant
scrutiny of his conduct, which in every circumstance is now
tlioroughly known, affords not any reasonable foundation.
On the contrary, if we consider the extreme difficulties to
which he was so frequently reduced, and compare the sin-
cerity of his professions and declarations, we shall avow
that probity and honor ought justly to be numbered among
his most shining qualities. In every treaty, those conces-
sions which he thought he could not in conscience maintain,
he never could, by any motive or persuasion, be induced
to make. And though some violations of the Petition of
Right may perhaps be imputed to him, these are more to be
ascribed to the necessity of his situation, and to the lofty
ideas of royal prerogative which, from former established
precedents, he had imbibed, than to any failure in the in-
tegrity of his principles."^
This prince was of a comely presence, of a sweet but
™ See note [GGl at the eiul of the vohime.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 491
melancholy aspect. His face was regular, handsome, and
well-complexioned ; his body strong, healthy, and justly pro-
portioned ; and being of a middle stature, he was capable
of enduring the greatest fatigues. He excelled in horse-
manship and other exercises ; and he possessed all the ex-
terior as well as many of the essential qualities which form
an accomplished prince.
The tragical death of Charles begat a question, whether
the people, in any case, were entitled to judge and to
punish their sovereign ; and most men, regarding chiefly
the atrocious usurjaation of the pretended judges, and the
merit of the virtuous prince who suffered, were inclined to
condemn the republican principle as highly seditious and ex-
travagant ; but there were still a few who, abstracting from
the particular circumstances of this case, were able to con-
sider the question in general, and were inclined to moder-
ate, not contradict, the prevailing sentiment. Such might
have been their reasoning. If ever, on any occasion, it were
laudable to conceal truth from the populace, it must be con-
fessed that the doctrine of resistance affords such an ex-
ample, and that all speculative reasoners ought to observe,
with regard to this principle, the same cautious silence which
the laws in every species of government have ever prescribed
to themselves. Government is instituted- in order to re-^
sti-ain the fury and injustice of the people, and being always
founded on opinion, not on force, it is dangerous to weaken,
by these speculations, the reverence which the multitude
owe to authority, and to instruct them beforehand that the
case can never happen when they ^may be freed from their
duty of allegiance. Or should it be found impossible to
restrain the license of human disquisitions, it must be ac-
knowledged that the doctrine of obedience ought alone to
be inculcated and that the exceptions, which are rare, ought
seldom or never to be mentioned in popular reasonings and
discourses. Nor is there any danger that mankind, by this
prudent reserve, should universally degenerate into a state
of abject servitude. When the exception really occurs, even
though it be not previously expected and descanted on, it
must, from its very nature, be so obvious and undisputed as
to remove all doubt, and overpower the restraint, however
great, imposed by teaching the general doctrine of obedi-.
ence. But between resisting a prince and dethroning him
there is a wide interval, and the abuses of power which can
warrant the latter violence are greater and more enormous
492 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
than those which will justify the former. History, however,
supplies us with examples even of this kind ; and the reality
of the supposition, though for the future it ought ever to
be little looked for, must by all candid inquirers be ac-
knowledged in the past. But between dethroning a prince
and punishing him there is another very wide interval ; and
it were not strange if men even of the most enlarged thoughts
should question whether human nature could ever in any
monarch reach that height of depravity as to warrant, iii
revolted subjects, this last act of extraordinary jurisdiction.
That illusion, if it be an illusion, which teaches us to pay a
sacred regard to the persons of princes is so salutary that
to dissipate it by the formal trial and punishment of a
sovereign, will have more pernicious effects upon the jjeople
than the example of justice can be supposed to have a bene-
ficial iniluence upon princes, by checking their career of
tyranny. It is dangerous, also, by these examples, to re-
duce princes to despair, or bring matters to such extrem-
ities against persons endowed with great power as to leave
them no resource but in the most violent and most sanguin-
ary counsels. This general position being established, it
must, however, be observed that no reader, almost of any
party or principle, was ever shocked when he read in ancient
history that the Roman senate voted Nero, their absolute
sovereign, to be a public enemy, and, even without trial, con-
demned him to ths severest and most ignominious punish-
ment— a punishment from which the meanest Roman citizen
was by the laws exempted. The crimes of that bloody
tyrant are so enormous that they break through all rules,
and extort a confession that such a dethroned prince is no
longer superior to his people, and can no longer plead, in
his own defence, laws which were establislied for conduct-
ing the ordinary course of administration. But when we
pass from the case of Nero to that of Charles, the great dis-
])roportion, or rather total contrariety, of ciiaracter immedi-
ately strikes us ; and we stand astonished that among a
civilized people so much virtue could ever meet with so
fatal a catastrophe. Plistory, the great mistress of wisdom,
furnishes examples of all kinds ; and every prudential as
well as moral precept may be authorized by those events
which her enlarged mirror is able to present to us. From
the memorable revolutions which passed in England during
this period, we may naturally deduce the same useful lesson
which Charles himself in his latter years inferred, that it is
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 493
dangerous for princes, even from the appearance of neces- ]
sity, to assume more authority than the laws have allowed I
them. But it must be confessed that these events furnish 1
us with another instruction, "no less natural, and no less use- {
f ul, concerning the madness of the people, the furies of fanat- 1
icisra, and the danger of mercenary armies. \
In order to close this part of the British history, it is also
necessary to relate the dissolution of the monarchy in Eng-
land ; that event soon followed upon the death of the mon-
arch. When the Peers met on the day appointed in their
adjournment, they entei'ed upon business, and sent down
some votes to the Commons, of which the latter deigned
not to take the least notice. In a few days the lower House
•passed a vote that they would make no more addresses to
the House of Peers, nor receive any from them ; and that
that House was useless and dangerous, and was therefore to
be abolished. A like vote passed with regard to the mon-
archy ; and it is remarkable that Martin, a zealous republi-
can, in the debate on this question confessed that if they
desired a king, the last was as proper as any gentleman in
England.""^ The Commons ordered a new great seal to be
engraved, on which that assembly was represented with this
legend, " On the first year of freedom, by God's blessing, re-
stored, 1-648." The forms of all public business were changed
from the king's name to that of the keepers of the liberties of
England ; ^'" and it was declared high ti-eason to proclaim,
or any otherwise acknowledge, Charles Stuart, commonly
called Prince of Wales.
The Commons intended, it is said, to bind the Princess
Elizabeth apprentice to a button -maker ; the Duke of Glou-
cester was to be taught some other mechanical employment.
But the former soon died of grief, as is supposed, for her
father's tragical end ; the latter was by Cromwell sent be-
yond sea.
The king's statue in the Exchange was thrown down,
and on the pedestal these words were inscribed : "Exit ty-
rannus, regum ultimus " — The tyrant is gone, the last of the
kings."
Duke Hamilton was tried by a new high court of justice
as Earl of Cambridge in England, and condemned for trea^
106 Walker's History of Independency, part U.
i"' The Court of King's Bench was called the Court of Public Bench. So cau-
tions on this head were some of the Kepublioans that it is pretended, in reciting
the Lord's Prayer, they would not say " thy kingdom come," but always " thy
commouwealtli come."
494 • HISTOEY OP ENGLAND.
son. This sentence, which was certainly hard, but which
ought to save his memory from all imputations of treachery
to his master, was executed on a scaffold erected before
Westminster Hall. Lord Capel underwent the same fate.
Both these noblemen had escaped from prison, but were af-
terwards discovered and taken. To all the solicitations of
their friends for pardon, the generals and parliamentary
leaders still replied that it was certainly the intention of
Providence that they should suffer, since it had permitted
them to fall into the hands of their enemies after they had
once recovered their liberty.
The Earl of flolland lost his life by a like sentence.
Though of a polite and courtly behavior, he died lamented
by no party. His ingratitude to the king and his frequent
changing of sides were regarded as great stains on his mem-
orj'. The Earl of Norwich and Sir John Owen, being con-
demned by the same court, were pardoned by the Com-
mons.
The king left six children — three males (Charles, born
in 1630 ; James, Duke of York, born in 1633 ; Henry,
Duke of Gloucester, born in 1641) and three females (Mary,
Princess of Orange, born 1631 ; Elizabeth, born 1635 ; and
Henrietta, afterwards Duchess of Orleans, born at Exeter,
1644).
The Archbishops of Canterbury in this reign were Abbot
and Laud ; the lord-keepers, Williams, Bishop of Lincoln,
Lord Coventry, Lord Finch, Lord Littleton, and Sir Rich-
ard Lane ; the high-admirals, the Duke of Buckingham and
the Earl of Northumberland ; the treasurers, the Earl of
Marlborough, the Earl of Portland, Juxon, Bishop of Lon-
don, and Lord Cottington ; the secretaries of state, Lord Con-
way, Sir Albertus Moreton, Coke, Sir Henry Vane, Lord
Falkland, Lord Digby, and Sir Edward Nicholas.
It may be expected that we should here mention the
Icon Basilike, a work published in the king's name a few
days after his execution. It seems almost impossible, in
the controverted parts of history, to say anything which
will satisfy the zealots of both parties ; but with regard to
the genuineness of that production, it is not easy for an his-
torian to fix any opinion which will be entirely to his own
satisfaction. The proofs brought to evince that this work
is or is not the king's are so convincing that, if an impartial
reader peruse any one side apart,"' he will think it impossi-
"" See, on the one band, Xoland's Aniyntor, and, on the other, Wagstaffe'a
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 495
ble that arguments could be produced sufficient to counter-
balance so strong an evidence ; and when he compares bolli
sides, he will be some time at a loss to fix any determina-
tion. Should an absolute suspense of judgment be found
difficult or disagreeable in so interesting a question, I must
confess that I much incline to give the preference to the ar-
guments of the royalists. The testimonies which prove that
performance to be the king's are more numerous, certain,
and direct than those on the other side. This is the case,
even if we. consider the external evidence ; but when we
weigh the internal, derived from the style and composition,
there is no manner of comparison. These meditations re-
semble, in elegance, purity, neatness, and simplicity, the
genius of those performances which we know with certainty
to have flowed from the royal pien, but are so unlike the
bombast, perplexed, rhetorical and corrupt style of Dr.
Gauden, to whom they are ascribed, that no human testi-
mony seems sufficient to convince us that he was the au-
thor. Yet all the evidences which would rob the king of
that honor tend to prove that Dr. Gauden had the merit of
writing so fine a performance, and the infamy of imposing
it on the world for the king's.
It is not easy to conceive the general compassion excited
towards the king by the publishing, at so critical a juncture,
a work so full of piety, meekness, and humanity. Many
have not scrupled to ascribe to that book the subsequent
restoration of the royal family. Milton compares its effects
to those which were wrought on the tumultuous Romans
by Anthony's reading to them the will of Csesar. The Icon
passed through fifty editions in a twelvemonth ; and, inde-
pendent of the great interest taken in it by the nation as
the supposed production of their murdered sovereign, it
must be acknowledged the best prose composition which,
at the time of its publication, was to be found in the Eng-
tish language.
Vindication ot the Eoyal Martyr, with Young's addition. We may remark that
Lord Clarendon's total silence with regard to this subject in so full a history, com-
posed in vindication of the king's measures and character, forms a presumption
on Toland's side, and a presumption of which that author was ignorant, the
works of the noble historian not being then published. Bishop Burnet's testi-
mony, too, must be allowed of some weight agaiust the Icou.
496 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER LX.
THE COMMONWEALTH.
STATE OP ENGLAND — OP SCOTLAND OP IRELAND. LEVEL-
LERS SUPPRESSED.— SIEGE OP DUBLIN RAISED. TREDAH
STORMED. — COVENANTERS. MONTROSE TAKEN PRISONER.
EXECUTED. COVENANTERS. BATTLE OP DUNBAR OP
WORCESTER. king's ESCAPE. THE COMMONWEALTH.
DUTCH WAR. DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT.
The confusions which overspread England after the
murder of Charles I. proceeded as well from the spirit of
nefinement and innovation which agitated the ruling party
as from the dissolution of all that authority, both civil and
ecclesiastical, [1649.] by which the nation had ever been
accustomed to be governed. Every man had framed the
model of a republic ; and however new it was, or fantasti-
cal, he was eager in recommending it to his fellow-citizens,
or even imposing it by force upon them. Every man had
adjusted a system of religion, which, being derived from no
traditional authority, was peculiar to himself ; and being
founded on supposed inspiration, not on any principles of
human reason, had no means besides cant and low rhetoric
by which it could recommend itself to others. The Lev-
ellers insisted on an equal distribution of power and prop-
erty, and disclaimed all dependence and subordination.
The Millenarians, or Fifth-monarchy men, required that
government itself should be abolished and all human pow-
ers be laid in the dust, in order to pave the way for the do-
minion of Christ, whose second coming they suddenly ex-
pected. The Antinomians even insisted that the obliga-
tions of morality and natural law were suspended, and that
the elect, guided by an internal principle more perfect and
divine, were superior to the " beggarly elements " of jus-
tice and humanity. A considerable party declaimed against
tithes and hireling priesthood, and were resolved that the
magistrate should not support by power or revenue any ec-
clesiastical establishment. Another party inveighed against
HISTOET OP ENGLAND. 497
the law ana its professors ; and, on pretence of rendering
more simple the distribution of justice, were desirous of
abolishing the whole system of English jurisprudence which
seemed interwoven with monarchical government. Even
those among the republicans who adopted not such extrav-
agances were so intoxicated with their saintly character
that they supposed themselves possessed of peculiar priv-
ileges ; £,nd all professions, oaths, laws, and engagements
had in a great measure lost their influence over them. The
-bands of society were everywhere loosened, and the irregu-
lar passions of men were encouraged by speculative princi-
ples still more unsocial and irregular.
The royalists, consisting of the nobles and more consider-
able gentry, being degraded from their authority and plun-
dered of their property, were inflamed with the highest re-
sentment and indignation against those ignoble adversaries
who had reduced them to subjection. The Presbyterians,
whose credit at first supported the arms of the Parliament,
were enraged to find that, by the treachery or superior cun-
ning of their associates, the fruits of all their successful
labors were ravished from them. The former party, from
inclination and princifile, zealously attached themselves to
the spn of their unfortunate monarch, whose memory they
respected, and whose tragical death they deplored. The
latter cast their eye towards the same object ; but they had
still many prejudices to overcome, many fears and jealousies
to be allayed, ere they could cordially entertain thoughts of
restoring the family which they had so grievously offended,
and whose principles they regarded with such violent ab-
horrence.
The only solid support of the republican Independent
faction, which, though it formed so small a part of the na-
tion, had violently usurped the government of the whole,
was a numerous army of near fifty thousand men. But this
army, formidable from its discipline and courage as well as
its numbers, was actuated by a spirit that rendered it dan-
gerous to the assembly which had assumed the command
over it. Accustomed to indulge every chimera in politics,
every frenzy in religion, the st)ldiers knew little of the sub-
ordination of citizens, and had only learned, from apparent
necessity, some maxims of military obedience ; and while
they still maintained that all those enormous violations of
law and equity of which they had been guilty were justified
by the success with which Providence had blessed them, they
Vol. IV.— 32
498 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
were ready to break out into any new disorder, wherever
they had the prospect of a like sanction and authority.
What alone gave some stability to all these unsettled
humors was the great influence, both civil and military, ac-
quired by Oliver Cromwell. This man, suited to the age in
which he lived, and to that alone, was equally qualified to
gain the affection and confidence of men by what was mean,
vulgar, and lidiculous in his character as to command their
obedience by what was great, daring, and enterprising.
Familiar even to buffoonery with the meanest sentinel, he
never lost his authority ; transported to a degree of madness
with religious ecstasies, he never forgot the political pur-
poses to which they might serve. Hating monarchy while
a subject, despising liberty while a citizen, though he re-
tained for a time all orders of men under a seeming obe-
dience to the Parliament, he was secretly paving the way,
by artifice and courage, to his own unlimited authority.
The Parliament, for so we must henceforth call a small
and inconsiderable part of the House of Commons, having
murdered their sovereign with so many appearing circum-
stances of solemnity and justice, and so much real violence
and even fury, began to assume more the air of a civil legal
power, and to enlarge a little the narrow bottom upon which
they stood. They admitted a few of the excluded and ab-
sent members, such as were liable to least exception, but on
condition that these members should sign an approbation of
whatever had been done in their absence with regard to the
king's trial ; and some of them were willing to acquire a
share of power on such terms : the greater part disdained
to lend their authority to such apparent usurpations. They
issued some writs for new elections in places where they
hoped to have interest enough to bring in their own friends
and dependants. They named a council of state, thirty-eight
in number, to whom all addresses were made, who gave
orders to all generals and admirals, who executed the laws,
and who digested all business before it was introduced into
Parliament.^ They pretended to employ themselves en-
tirely in adjusting the laws, forms, and plan of a newTep-
resentative ; and as soon as they should have settled the
1 Tlieir names -were— the Earls of Denbigli, Mulgrave, Pembroke, Salisbury,
Lords Gray and Fairfax, Lisle, KoUes, St. John, Wilde, Bradshaw, Crom-
well, Skippon, Pickering, Massam, Haselrig. Harrington, Vane jun., Uanvers,
Armine, Mildmay, Constable, Pennington, Wilson, Whitlocke, Martin, Ludlow,
Stapleton, Hevinghaq, Wallop, Hutcbiuson, Bond, Popbam, Valentine, Walton,
Scott, Puref oy, Jones.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 499
nation, they professed their intention of restoring the power
to the people, from whom they acknowledged they had
entirely derived it.
The commonwealth found everything in England com-
posed in a seeming tranquillity by the terror of their arms.
Foreign powers, occupied in wars among themselves, had no
leisure or inclination to interpose in the domestic dissensions
of this island. The young king, poor and neglected, living
sometimes in Holland, sometimes in France, sometimes in
Jersey, comforted himself, amid his present distresses, with
the hopes of better fortune. The situation alone of Scotland
and Ireland gave any immediate inquietude to the new re-
public.
After the successive defeats of Montrose and Hamilton
and the ruin of their parties, the whole authority in Scotland
fell into the hands of Argyle and the rigid churchmen, that
party which was most averse to the interests of the royal
family. Their enmity, however, against the Independents,
who had prevented the settlement of Presbyterian discipline
in England, carried them to embrace opposite maxims in
their political conduct. Though invited by the English
Parliament to model their government into a republican
form, they resolved still to adhere to monarchy, which had
ever prevailed in their country, and which, by the express
terms of their covenant, they had engaged to defend. They
considered, besides, that as the property of the kingdom lay
mostly in the hands of great families, it would be difficult to
establish a commonwealth, or, without some chief magistrate
invested with royal authority, to preserve jseace or justice
in the community. The execution, therefore, of the king,
against which they had always protested, having occasioned
a vacancy of the throne, they immediately proclaimed his
son and successoi", Charles II. ; but upon condition " of his
good behavior and strict observance of the covenant, and
his entertaining no other persons about him but such as
were godly men and faithful to that obligation." These
unusual clauses, inserted in the very first acknowledgment
of their prince, sufficiently showed their intention of limiting
extremely his authority ; and the English commonwealth,
having no pretence to interpose in the affairs of that king-
dom, allowed the Scots for the present to take their own
measures in settling their government.
The dominion which England claimed over Ireland de-
manded more immediately their efforts for subduing that
500 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
country. In order to convey a just notion of Irish affairs,
it would be necessary to look backwards some years, and to
relate briefly those transactions which had jsassed during the
memorable revolutions in England. "When the late king
agreed to that cessation of arms with the popish rebels,''
which was become so requisite as well for the security of the
Irish Protestants as for promoting his interests in England,
the Parliament, in order to blacken his conduct, reproached
him with favoring that odious rebellion, and exclaimed
loudly against the terms of the cessation. They even went
so far as to declare it entirely null and invalid, because
finished without their consent ; and to this declaration the
Scots in Ulster, and the Earl of Inchiquin, a nobleman of
great authority in Munster, professed to adhere. By their
means the war was still kept alive ; but as the dangerous
distraction in England hindered the Parliament from send-
ing any considerable assistance to their allies in Ireland,
the Marquis of Ormond, lord-lieutenant, being a native of
Ireland, and a person endowed with great prudence and
virtue, formed a scheme for composing the disorders of his
country, and for engaging the rebel Irish to support the
cause of his royal master. There were many circumstances
which strongly invited the natives of Ireland to embrace
the king's party. The maxims of that prince had always
led him to give a reasonable indulgence to the Catholics
throughout all his dominions ; and one principal ground of
that enmity which the Puritans professed against him was
this tacit toleration. The Parliament, on the contrary, even
when unprovoked, had ever menaced the Papists with the
most rigid restraint, if not a total extirpation ; and imme-
diately after the commencement of the Irish rebellion they
put to sale all the estates of the rebels, and had engaged the
public faith for transferring them to the adventurers who
had already advanced money upon that security. The suc-
cess, therefore, which the arms of the Parliament met with
at Naseby^ struck a just terror into the Irish, and engaged
the Council of Kilkenny, composed of deputies from all the
Catholic counties and cities, to conclude a peace with the
Marquis of Ormond.^ They professed to return to their
duty and allegiance, engaged to furnish ten thousand men
for the support of the king's authority in England, and were
content with stipulating, in return, indemnity for their re-
bellion and toleration of their religion.
' 1643. s 164S.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 501
Ormond, not doubting but a peace so advantageous and
even necessary to the Irish would be strictly observed, ad-
vanced with a small body of troops to Kilkenny, in order to
concert measures for common defence with his new allies.
The pope had sent over to Ireland a nuncio, Rinuccini,
an Italian; and this man, whose commission empowered
him to direct the spiritual concerns of the Irish, was embold-
ened, by their ignorance and bigotry, to assume the chief
authority in the civil government. Foreseeing that a gen-
eral submission to the lord-lieutenant would put an end to
his own influence, he conspired with Owen O'Neal, who com-
manded the native Irish in Ulster, and who bore a great
jealousy to Preston, the general chiefly trusted by the Coun-
cil of Kilkenny. By concert, these two malcontents secret-
ly drew forces together, and were ready to fall on Ormond,
who remained in security, trusting to the pacification so
lately concluded with the rebels. He received intelligence
of their treachery, made his retreat with celerity and con-
duct, and sheltered his small army in Dublin and the other
fortified towns which still remained in the hands of the Prot-
estants.
The nuncio, full of arrogance, levity, and ambition, was
not contented with this violation of treaty. He summoned
an assembly of the clergy at Waterford, and engaged them
to declare against that pacification which the civil council
had concluded with their sovereign. He even thundered
out a sentence of excommunication against all who should
adhere to a peace so prejudicial,* as he pretended, to the Cath-
olic religion ; and the deluded Irish, terrified with his spirit-
ual menaces, ranged themselves everywhere on his side, and
submitted to his authority. Without scruple he carried on
war against the lord-lieutenant, and threatened with a siege
the Protestant garrisons, which were, all of them, very ill
provided for defence.
Meanwhile the unfortunate king was necessitated to take
shelter in the Scottish army ; and being there reduced to
close confinement, and secluded from all commerce with his
friends, despaired that his authority, or even his liberty,
would ever be restored to him. He sent orders to Ormond,
if he could not defend himself, rather to submit to the Eng-
lish than to the Irish rebels; and accordingly the lord-lieu-
tenant, being reduced to extremities, delivered up Dublin,
Tredah, Dundalk, and other garrisons to Colonel Michael
Jones, who took possession of them in the name of the Eng-
502 mSTOEY OF ENGLAND.
lish Parliament. Ormond himself went over to England,
was admitted into the king's presence, received a grateful
acknowledgment for his past services, and during some time
lived in tranquillity near London. But, being banished with
the other royalists to a distance from that city, and seeing
every event turn out unfortunately for his royal master and
threaten him with a catastrophe still more direful, he thought
proper to retire into France, where he joined the queen and
the Prince of Wales.
In Ireland, during these transactions, the authority of
the nuncio prevailed without control among all the Catho-
lics ; and that prelate, by his indiscretion and insolence, soon
made them repent of the power with which they had in-
trusted him. Prudent men, likewise, were sensible of the
total destruction which was hanging over the nation from
the English Parliament, and saw no resource or safety but
in giving support to the declining authority of the king.
The Earl of Clanricarde, a nobleman of an ancient family,
a person, too, of merit, who had ever preserved his loyalty,
was sensible of the ruin which threatened his countrymen,
and was resolved, if possible, to prevent it. He secretly
formed a combination among the Catholics ; he entered into
a correspondence with Inchiquin, who preserved great au-
thority over the Protestants in Munster ; he attacked the
nuncio, whom he chased out of the island ; and he sent to
Paris a deputation, inviting the lord- lieutenant to return
and take possession of his government.
Ormond, on his arrival in Ireland, found the kingdom
divided into many factions, among which either open war
or secret enmity prevailed. The authority of the English
Parliament was established in Dublin and the other towns
which he himself had delivered into their hands. O'Neal
maintained his credit in Ulster ; and, having entei-ed into a
secret correspondence with the parliamentary generals, was
more intent on schemes for his own personal safety than
anxious for the preservation of his country or religion. The
other Irish, divided between their clergy, who were averse
to Ormond, and their nobility, who were attached to him,
were very uncertain in their motions and feeble in their
measures. The Scots in the north, enraged, as well as their
other countrymen, against the usurpations of the sectarian
army, professed their adherence to the king, but were still
hindered by many prejudices from entering into a cordial
union with his lieutenant. All these distracted counsels
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 503
and contrary humors checked the progress of Ormond, and
enabled the parliamentary forces in Ireland to maintain
their ground against him. The republican faction, mean-
while, in England, employed in subduing the revolted roy-
alists, in reducing the Parliament to subjection, in the trial,
condemnation, and execution of their sovereign, totally neg-
lected the supplying of Ireland, and allowed Jones and the
forces in Dublin to remain in the utmost weakness and
necessity. The lord-lieutenant, though surrounded with
difficulties, neglected not the favorable opportunity of pro-
moting the royal cause. Having at last assembled an army
of sixteen thousand men, he advanced ujaon the ijarliamen-
tary garrisons. Dundalk, where Monk commanded, was de-
livered up by the troops, who mutinied against their gov-
ernor. Tredah, Newry, and other forts were taken. Dub-
lin was threatened with a siege ; and the affairs of the lieu-
tenant appeared in so prosperous a condition that the young
king entertained thoughts of coming in person into Ireland.
When the English commonwealth was brought to some
tolerable settlement, men began to cast their eyes towards
the neighboring island. During the contest of the two par-
ties the government of Ireland had remained a great object
of intrigue ; and the Presbyterians endeavored to obtain the
lieutenancy for Waller, the Independents for Lambert.
After the execution of the king, Cromwell himself began to
aspire to a command where so much glory, he saw, might
be won, and so much authority acquired. In his absence he
took care to have his name proposed to the council of state,
and both friends and enemies concurred immediately to vote
him into that imj^ortant office; the former suspected that
the matter had not been proposed merely by chance, with-
out his own concurrence ; the latter desired to remove him
to a distance, and hoped during his absence to gain the ascend-
ant over Fairfax, whom he had so long blinded by his hyp-
ocritical professions. Cromwell himself, when informed of
his election, feigned surprise, and pretended at first to hesi-
tate with regard to the acceptance of the command ; and
Lambert, either deceived by his dissimulation, or, in his turn,
feigning, to be deceived, still continued, notwithstanding
this disapiJointment, his friendship and connections with
Cromwell.
The new lieutenant immediately applied himself with
his wonted vigilance to make preparation for his expedition.
Many disorders in England it behooved him previously to
504 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
compose. All jjlaces were full of danger and inquietude.
Though men, astonished with the successes of the army, re-
mained in seeming tranquillity, symptoms of the gi-eatest
discontent everwhere appeared. The English, long accus-
tomed to a mild administration, and unacquainted with dis-
simulation, could not conform their speech and counte-
nance to the present necessity, or pretended attachment to a
form of government which they genei-ally regarded with
such violent abhorrence. It was requisite to change the
magistracy of London, and to degrade as well as punish the
mayor and some of the aldermen, before the proclamation
for the abolition of monarchy could be published in the
city. An engagement being framed to support the com-
monwealth without king or House of Peers, the army was
with some difficulty brought to subscribe it ; but though it
was imposed on the rest of the nation under severe penal-
ties, no less than putting all who refused out of the protec-
tion of law, such obstinate reluctance was observed in the
people that even the imperious Parliament was obliged to
desist from it. The spirit of fanaticism by which that as-
sembly had at first been strongly supported was now turned
in a great measure against them. The pulpits being chiefly
filled with Presbyterians or disguised royalists, and having
long been the scene of news and politics, could by no penal-
ties be restrained from declarations unfavorable to the estab-
lished government. Numberless were the extravagances
which broke out among the people. Everard, a disbanded
soldier, having preached that the time was now come wlien
the community of goods would be renewed among Chris-
tians, led out his followers to take possession of the land;
and being carried before the general, he refused to salute
him, because he was but his fellow-creature.'' What seemed
more dangerous, the army itself was infected with like
humors.^ Though the Levellers had for a time been sup-
pressed by the audacious spirit of Cromwell, they still con-
tinued to propagate their doctrines among the private men
and inferior ofiicers, who pretended a right to be consulted,
as before, in the administration of the commonwealth. They
now practised against their ofiicers the same lesson which
they had been taught against the Parliament. They framed a
remonstrance, and sent five agitators to present it to the gen-
eral and council of war. These were cashiered with io-no-
miny by sentence of a court-martial. One Lockier, having
* Wliitlocke. ' See note [HHJ at the end of the volume.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 505
carried his sedition further, was sentenced to death ; but this
punishment was so far from quelling the mutinous spirit
that above a thousand of his companions showed their ad-
herence to him by attending his funeral, and wearing in
their hats black and sea-green ribbons by way of favors.
About four thousand assembled at Burford, under the com-
mand of Thomson, a man formerly condemned for sedition
by a court-martial, but pardoned by the general. Colonel
Reynolds, and afterwards Fairfax and Cromwell, fell upon
them while unprepared for defence and seduced by the ap-
pearance of a treaty. Four hundred were taken prisoners ;
some of them capitally punished, the rest pardoned ; and
this tumultuous spirit, though it still lurked in the army, and
broke out from time to time, seemed for the present to be
suppressed.
Petitions framed in the same spirit of opposition were
presented to the Parliament by Lieutenant-Colonel Lilburn,
the person who, for dispersing seditious libels, had formerly
been treated with such severity by the Star-chamber. His
liberty was at this time as ill relished by the Parliament,
and he was thrown into prison as a promoter of sedition and
disorder in the commonwealth. The women applied by a
petition for his release, but were now desired to mind their
household affairs, and leave the government of the state to
the men. From all quarters the Parliament was harassed
with petitions of a very free nature, which strangely spoke
the sense of the nation, and proved how ardently all men
longed for the restoration of their laws and liberties. Even
in a feast which the city gave to the Parliament and council
of state, it was deemed a requisite precaution, if we may
credit Walker and Dugdale, to swear all the cooks that they
would sei-ve nothing but wholesome food to them.
The Parliament Judged it necessary to enlarge the laws
of high treason beyond those narrow bounds within which
they had been confined during the monarchy. They even
comprehended verbal offences — nay, intentions — though
they had never appeared in any overt act against the state.
To affirm the present government to be a usurpation, to
assert that the Parliament or council of state were tyranni-
cal or illegal, to endeavor subverting their authority or
stirring up sedition against them — these offences were de-
clared to be high treason. The power of imprisonment, of
which the Petition of Right had bereaved the king, it was
now found necessary to restore to the council of state ; and
506 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
all the jails in England were filled with men whom the
jealousies and fears'of the ruling party had represented as
dangerous.* The taxes continued by the new government,
and which, being unusual, were esteemed heavy, increased
the general ill-will under which it labored. Besides the
customs and excise, ninety thousand pounds a month were
levied on land for the subsistence of the army. The seques-
trations and compositions of the royalists, the sale of the
crown lands and of the dean and chapter lands, though they
yielded great sums, were not sufficient to support the vast
expenses, and, as was suspected, the great dejDredations of
the Parliament and of their creatures.'
Amid all these difficulties and disturbances, the steady
mind of Cromwell, without confusion or embarrassment, still
pursued its purpose. While he was collecting an army of
twelve thousand men in the West of England, he sent to
Ireland, under Reynolds and Venables, a reinforcement of
four thousand horse and foot, in order to strengthen Jones
and enable him to defend himself against the Marquis of
Ormond, who lay at Finglass, and was making preparations
for the attack of Dublin. Inchiquin, who had now made a
treaty with the king's lieutenant, having with a separate
body taken Tredah and Dundalk, gave a defeat to Offarrell,
who served under O'Neal, and to young Coot, who com-
manded some parliamentary forces. After he had joined
his troops to the main army, with whom for some time he
remained united, Ormond passed the river Liffy, and took
post at Rathmines, two miles from Dublin, with a view of
commencing the siege of that city. In order to cut off all
further supply from Jones, he had begun tlie reparation of
an old fort which lay at tl)e gates of Dublin ; and, being
exhausted with continual fatigue for some days, he had re-
tired to rest, after leaving orders to keep his forces under
arms. He was suddenly awakened with the noise of firing,
and, starting from his bed, saw everything already in tumult
and confusion. Jones, an excellent officer, formerly a law-
yer, had sallied out with the reinforcement newly arrived ;
and attacking the partj employed in repairing the fort, he
totally routed them, pursued the advantage, and fell in with
the array, which had neglected Ormond's orders. These he
soon' threw into disorder; put them to flight, in spite of all
the efforts of the lord-lieutenant ; chased them off the field ;
1 History of IiKleijeiidencj', pan ii.
' Paiiiameutary History, vol. xix. pp. 13G, 170.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 507
seized all their tents, baggage, ammunition ; and returned
victorious to Dublin, after killing a thousand men and taking
above two thousand prisoners.*
This loss, which threw some blemish on the military
character of Ormond, was irreparable to the royal cause.
That numerous army which, with so much pains and diffi-
culty, the lord-lieutenant had been collecting for more than
a year, was dispersed in a moment. Cromwell soon ar-
rived in Dublin, where he was welcomed with shouts and
rejoicings. He hastened to Tredah. That town was well
fortified ; Ormond had thrown into it a good garrison of
three thousand men, under Sir Arthur Aston, an officer of
reputation. He expected that Tredah, lying in the neigh-
borhood of Dublin, would first be attempted by Cromwell,
and he was desirous to employ the enemy some time in that
siege, while he himself should repair his broken forces.
But Cromwell knew the importance of despatch. Having
made a breach, he ordered a genera] assault. Though twice
rejjulsed with loss, he renewed the attack, and himself, along
with Ireton, led on his men. All opposition was overborne
by the furious valor of the troops. The town was taken
sword in hand, and orders being issued to give no quarter,
a cruel slaughter was made of the garrison. Even a few
who were saved by the soldiers, satiated with blood, were
next day miserably butchered by orders from the general.
One person alone of the garrison escaped, to be a messenger
of this universal havoc and destruction.
Cromwell pretended to retaliate by this severe execu-
tion the cruelty of the Irish massacre ; but he well knew
that almost the whole garrison was English; and his justice
was only a barbarous policy in order to terrify all other
garrisons from resistance. His policy, however, had the
desired effect. Having led the army without delay to Wex-
ford, he began to batter the town. The garrison, after a
slight defence, offered to capitulate; but before they ob-
tained a cessation they imprudently neglected their guards,
and the English army rushed in ujjon them. The same
severity was exercised as at Tredah.
Every town before which Cromwell presented himself
now opened its gates without resistance. Ross, though
strongly garrisoned, was surrounded bvLordTaffe. Having
taken Estionage, Cromwell threw a bridge over the Barrow,
and made himself master of Passage and Carrie. The Eng-
s Parliamentary History, vol. xix. p. 105.
508 HISTOET OP ENGLAND.
lish had no further difficulties to encounter than what arose
from fatigue and the advanced season. Fluxes and con-
tagious distempers crept in among the soldiers, who perished
in great numbers. Jones himself, the brave governor of
Dublin, died at Wexford ; and Cromwell had so far ad-
vanced with his decayed army that he began to find it dif-
ficult either to subsist in the enemy's country or retreat to
his own garrisons. But while he was in these straits, Cork,
Kinsale, and all the English garrisons in Munster deserted
to him, and, opening their gates, resolved to share the for-
tunes of their victorious countrymen.
This desertion of the English put an end to Ormoud's
authority, which was already much diminished by the mis-
fortunes at Dublin, Tredah, and Wexford. The Irish,
actuated by national and religious prejudices, could no
longer be kept m obedience by a Protestant governor who
was so unsuccessful in all his enterprises. The clergy re-
newed their excommunications against him and his adherents,
and added the terrors of superstition to those which arose
from a victorious enemy. Cromwell, having received a re-
inforcement from England, again took the field early in the
spring. He made himself master of Kilkenny and Clonmel,
the only places where he met with any vigorous resistance.
The whole frame of the Irish union being in a manner dis-
solved, Ormond soon after left the island and delegated his
authority to Clanricarde, who found affairs so desperate as
to admit of no remedy. The Irish were glad to embrace
banishment as a refuge. Above forty thousand men passed
into foreign service ; and Cromwell, well pleased to free the
island from enemies who never could be cordially reconciled
to the English, gave them full liberty and leisure for their
embarkation.
While Cromwell proceeded with such uninterrupted
success in Ireland, which in the space of nine months he had
almost entirely subdued, fortune was preparing for him a
new scene of victory and triumph in Scotland. Charles
Vas at the Hague when Sir Joseph Douglas brought him in-
telligence that he was proclaimed king by the Scottish Par-
liament. At the same time, Douglas informed him of the
hard conditions annexed to the proclamation, and extremely
damped that joy which might arise from his being recog-
nized sovereign in one of his kingdoms. Cliarles, too, con-
sidered that those who pretended to acknowledge his title
were at that very time in actual rebellion against his family,
HISTORY 01" ENGLAND. 509
and would be sure to intrust very little authority in his
hands, and scarcely would afford him personal liberty and
security. As the prospect of affairs in Ireland was at that
time not unpromising, he intended rather to try his fortune
in that kingdom, from which he expected more dutiful sub-
mission and obedience.
Meanwhile he found it expedient to depart from Holland.
The people in the United Provinces were much attached to
his interests. Besides his connection with the family of
Orange, which was extremely beloved by the populace, all
men regarded with compassion his helpless condition, and
expressed the greatest abhorrence against the murder of his
father — a deed to which nothing, they thought, but the rage
of fanaticism and faction could have impelled the Parlia-
ment. But though the public in general bore great favor
to the king, the States were uneasy at his presence. They
dreaded the Parliament, so formidable by their power and
so prosperous in all their enterprises. They apprehended
the most precipitate resolutions from men of such violent and
haughty dispositions ; and after the murder of Dorislaus,
they found it still more necessary to satisfy the English
commonwealth by removing the king to a distance from
them.
[1650.] Dorislaus, though a native of Holland, had lived
long in England ; and being employed as assistant to the
high court of justice which condemned the late king, he had
risen to great credit and favor with the ruling party. They
sent him envoy to Holland ; but no sooner had he arrived at
the Hague than he was set upon by some royalists, chiefly re-
tainers to Montrose. They rushed into the room where he
was sitting with some comj^any, dragged him from the table,
put him to death as the first -('ictim to their murdered
sovereign, very leisurely and peaceably separated them-
selves ; and, though orders were issued by the magistrates
to arrest them, these were executed with guch slowness and
reluctance that the criminals had all of them the opportunity
of making their escape.
Charles, having passed some time at Paris, where no
assistance was given him, and eVen few civilities were paid
him, made his retreat into Jersey, where his authority was
still acknowledged. Here Winram, Laird of Liberton, came
to him as deputy from the Committee of Estates in Scotland,
and informed him of the conditions to which he must neces-
sarily submit before he could be admitted to the exercise of
510 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
his authority. Conditions more severe were never imposed
by subjects upon tlieir sovereign ; but as the affairs of Ii-e-
land began to decline, and the king found it no longer safe
to venture himself in that island, he gave a civil answer to
Winram^ and desired the commissioners to meet him at
Breda, in order to enter into a treaty with regard to these
conditions.
The Earls of Cassilis and Lothian, Lord Burleigh, the
Laird of Liberton, and other commissioners arrived at
Breda, but without any power of treating ; the king must
submit, without reserve, to the terms imposed upon him.
The terms were tliat he should issue a proclamation, banish-
ing from court all excommunicated persons — that is, all
those who, either under Hamilton or Montrose, had ventured
their lives for his family ; that no English subject who had
served against the Parliament should be allowed to approach
him ; that he should bind himself by his royal promise to
take the covenant ; that he should ratify all acts of Parlia-
ment by which Presbyterian government, the directory of
worship, the confession of faith, and the catechism were
established ; and that in civil affairs he should entirely con-
form himself to the direction of Parliament, and in ecclesias-
tical to that of the assembly. These proposals, the com-
missioners, after passing some time in sermons and prayers,
in order to express the more determined resolution, very
solemnly delivered to the king.
The king's friends were divided with regard to tlie part
which he should act in this critical conjuncture. Most of
his English counsellors dissuaded him from accejJting con-
ditions so disadvantageous and dishonorable. They said that
the men who now governed Scotland were the most furious
and bigoted of that party which, notwithstanding his gentle
government, had first excited a rebellion against the late
king; after the most unlimited concessions, had renewed
their rebellion, and stopped the progress of his victories in
England ; and after he had intrusted his person to them in
his uttermost distress, had basely sold him, together with
their own honor, to his barbarous enemies : that they had
as yet shown no marks of repentance, and even in the terms
which they now proposed displayed the same anti-monarchical
principles and the same jealousy of their sovereign by which
they had ever been actuated : that nothing could be more
dishonorable than that the king, in his first enterprise, should
sacrifice, merely for the empty name of royalty, those
HISTOEY OP ENGLAND. 511
principles for which his father had died a martyr, and in
which he himself had been strictly educated : that by this
hypocrisy he might lose the royalists, who alone were sin-
cerely attached to him, but never would gain the Presby-
terians, who were averse to his family and his cause, and
would ascribe his compliance merely to policy and necessity :
that the Scots had refused to give him any assurances of
their intending to restore him to the throne of England ;
and could they even be brought to make such an attempt,
it had sufficiently appeared, by the event of Hamilton's en-
gagement, how unequal their force was to so gi-eat an en-
terprise : that on the first check which they should receive,
Argyle and his partisans would lay hold of the quickest ex-
pedient for reconciling themselves to the English Parliament,
and would betray the king, as they had done his father, into
the hands of his enemies; and that, however desperate the
royal cause, it must still be regarded as highly imprudent
in the king to make a sacrifice of his honor, where the sole
purchase was to endanger his life or liberty.
The Earl of Laneric, now Duke of Hamilton, the Earl of
Lauderdale, and others of that party who had been banished
their country for the late engagement, were then with the
king ; and, being desirous of returning home in his retinue,
they joined the opinion of the young Duke of Buckingham,
and earnestly pressed him to submit to the conditions re-
quired of him. It was urged that nothing would more grat-
ify the king's enemies than to see him fall into the snare
laid for him, and by so scrupulous a nicety leave the posses-
sion of his dominions to those who desired but a pretence
for excluding him ; that Argyle, not daring so far to oppose
the bent of the nation as to throw off all allegiance to his
sovereign, had embraced this expedient, by which he hoped
to make Charles dethrone himself, and refuse a kingdom
which was offered him ; that it was not to be doubted but
the same national spirit, assisted by Hamilton and his party,
would rise still higher in favor of their prince after he had
intrusted himself to their fidelity, and would much abate the
rigor of the conditions now imposed upon him ; that what-
ever might be the present intentions of the ruling party,
they must unavoidably be engaged in a war with England,
and must accept the assistance of the king's friends of all
jjarties, in order to support themselves against a power so
much superior ; that how much soever a steady, uniform
conduct might have been suitable to the advanced age and
512 HISTORY OF ENGJLAND.
Strict engagements of the late king, no one would throw any
blame on a young prince for complying with conditions
which necessity had extorted from him ; that even the rigor
of those principles professed by his father, though with
some it had exalted his character, had been extremely prej-
udicial to his interests ; nor could anything be more ser-
viceable to the royal cause than to give all parties room to-
hope for more equal and more indulgent maxims of govern-
ment ; and that, where affairs were reduced to so desperate
a situation, dangers ought little to be regarded ; and the
king's honor lay rather in showing some early symptoms of
courage and activity than in choosing strictly a party among
theological controversies with which, it might be supposed,
he was as yet very little acquainted.
These arguments, seconded by the advice of the queen-
mother, and of the Prince of Orange, the king's brother-in-
law, who both of them thought it ridiculous to refuse a king-
dom merely from regard to episcopacy, had great influence
on Charles. But what chiefly determined him to comply
was the account brought him of the fate of Montrose, who,
with all the circumstances of rage and contumely, had been
put to death by his zealous countrymen. Though in this
instance the king saw more evidently the furious spirit by
which the Scots were actuated, he had now no further re-
source, and was obliged to grant whatever was demanded
of him.
Montrose, having laid down his arms at the command of
the late king, had retired into France, and, contrary to his
natural disposition, had lived for some time inactive at Paris.
He there became acquainted with the famous Cardinal de
lietz ; and that penetrating judge celebrates him in his me-
moirs as one of those heroes of whom there are no longer
any remains in the world, and who are only to be met with
in Plutarch. Desirous of improving his martial genius, he
took a journey to Germany, was caressed by the emperor,
received the rank of mareschal, and proposed to levy a regi-
ment for the imperial service. While employed for that
purjjose in the Low Countries, he heard of the tragical death
of the king ; and at the same time received from his young
master a renewal of his commission as captain-general in
Scotland.' His ardent and daring spirit needed but this
authority to put him in action. He gathered followers in
Holland and the north of Germany, whom his great reputa-
» Burnet. Clareiidou.
HISTORY OV ENGLAND. 513
tion allured to him. The King of Denmark and Duke of
Holstein sent him some small supply of money ; the Queen
of Sweden furnished him with arms ; the Prince of Orange
with ships ; and Montrose, hastening his enterprise, lest the
king's agreement with the Scots should make him revoke
his commission, set out for the Orkneys with about five hun-
dred men, most of them Germans. These were all the
preparations which he could make against a kingdom settled
in domestic peace, supported by a disciplined army, fully
apprised of his enterprise, and prepared against him. Some
of his retainers having told him of a prophecy that " To
him, and him alone, it was reserved to restore the king's
authority in all his dominions," he lent a willing ear to sug-
gestions which, however ill-grounded or improbable, were so
conformable to his own daring character.
He armed several of the inhabitants of the Orkneys,
though an unwarlike people, and carried them over with him
to Caithness, hoping that the general affection to the king's
service, and the fame of his former exploits, would make the
Highlanders flock to his standard. But all men were now
harassed and fatigued with wars and disorders. Many of
those who- formerly adhered to him had been, severely pun-
ished by the Covenanters, and no prospect of success was
entertained in opposition to so great a force as was drawn
together against him. But however weak Montrose's army,
the memory of past events struck a great terror into the
■committee of estates. They immediately ordered Lesley
and Holborne to march against him with an army of four
thousand men. Strahan was sent before with a body of
cavalry to check his progress. He fell unexpectedly on
Montrose, who had no horse to bring him intelligence. The
royalists were put to flight; all of them either killed or
taken prisoners ; and Montrose himself, having put on the
disguise of a peasant, was perfidiously delivered into the
hands of his enemies by a friend to whom he had intrusted
his person.
All the insolence which success can produce in ungener-
ous minds was exercised by the Covenanters against Mont-
rose, whom they so much hated and so much dreaded. The-
ological antipathy further increased their indignities towards
a person whom they regarded as impious on account of the
excommunication which had been pronounced against him.
Lesley led him about for several days in the same low habit
under which he had disguised himself. The vulgar, where-
VoL. IV.— 33
514 HISTOKT OF BNGLAND.
ever he passed, were instigated to reproach and vilify him.
When he came to Edinburgh, every circumstance of elabor-
ate rage and insult was put in practice by order of the Par-
liament. At the .gate of the city he was met by the magis-
trates, and put into a new cart, purposely made with a high
chair or bench, where he was placed that the people might
have a full view of him. He was bound with a cord drawn
over his breast and shoulders, and fastened through holes
made in the cart. The hangman then took off the hat of
the noble prisoner and rode himself before the cart in his
livery, and with his bonnet on ; the other officers who were
taken prisoners with the marquis walking two and two
before them.
The populace, more generous and humane, when they
saw so mighty a change of fortune in this great man, so
lately their dread and terror, into whose hands the magis-
trates, a few years before, had delivered on their knees the
keys of the city, were struck with compassion, and viewed
him with silent tears and admiration. The preachers, next
Sunday, exclaimed against this movement of rebel nature,
as they termed it, and reproached the people with their
profane tenderness towards the capital enemy of piety and
religion.
When he was carried before the Pai-liament, which was
then sitting, Loudon, the chancellor, in a violent declama-
tion, repreached him with the breach of the national covenant"
which he had subscribed ; his rebellion against God, the king,
and the kingdom ; and the many horrible murders, treasons,
and impieties, for which he was now to be brought to condign
punishment. Montrose, in his answer, maintained the same
superiority above his enemies to which, by his fame and
great actions as well as by the consciousness of a good
cause, he was justly entitled. He told the Parliament that
since the king, as he was informed, had so far avowed their
authority as to enter into a treaty with them, he now ap-
peared uncovered before their tribunal — a respect which,
while they stood in open defiance to their sovereign, they
would in vain have required of him. That he acknowl-
edged, with infinite shame and remorse, the errors of his
eai-ly conduct, when their plausible pretences had seduced
him to tread with them the paths of rebellion, and bear
arras against Iiis prince and country. That his following
services, lie hojjed, had sufliciently testified his repentance;
and his death would now atone for that guilt, the only one
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 515
with which he cotild justly reproach himself. That in all
his warlike enterprises he was warranted by that coramis-
sion, which he had received from his and their master,
against whose lawful authority they had erected their
standard. That to venture his life for his sovereign was
the least part of his merit ; he had even thrown down his
arms in obedience to the sacred commands of the king, and
liad resigned to them the victory which, in defiance of all
their efforts, he was still enabled to dispute with them.
That no blood had ever been shed by him but in the field
of battle ; and many persons were now in his eye, many
who now dared to pronounce sentence of death upon him,
whose life, forfeited by the laws of war, he had formerly
saved from the fury of the soldiers. That he was sorry to
find no better testimony of their return to allegiance than
the murder of so faithful a subject, in whose death the
king's conmiission must be at once so highly injured and
affronted. That as to himself, they had in vain endeavored
to vilify and degrade him by all their studied indignities ;
■ the justice of his cause, he knew, would ennoble any for-
tune ; nor had he other affliction than to see the authority
of his prince, with which he was invested, treated with so
much ignominy. And that he now joyfully followed, by a
like unjust sentence, his late Sovereign ; and should be
ha])py if, in his future destiny, he could follow him to the
same blissful mansions, where his piety and humane virtues
had already, without doubt, secured him an eternal recom-
pense.
Montrose's sentence was next jironouQced against him,
" That he, James Graham " (for that was the only name
they vouchsafed to give him), "should next day be carried
to Edinburgh Cross, and there be hanged on a gibbet,
thirty feet high, for the space of three hours ; then be taken
down, his head be cut off upon a scaffold, and affixed to the
prison ; his legs and arms be stuck upon the four chief
towns of the kingdom ; his body be buried in the place ap-
])ropriated for common malefactors, except the Church,
upon his repentance, should take off his excommuni-
cation."
The clergy, hoping that the terrors of immediate death
had now given them an advantage over their enemy, flocked
about him, 'and insulted over his fallen fortunes. They
pronounced his damnation, and assured him that the judg-
ment which he was so soon to suffer would prove but an
516 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
easy prologue to that which he must undergo hereafter.
They next offered to pray with him ; but he was too well ac-
quainted with those forms of imprecation which they called
prayers. " Lord, vouchsafe yet to touch the obdurate
heart of this proud, incorrigible sinner ; this wicked, per-
jured, traitorous, and profane person, who refuses to
hearken to the voice of thy Church." Such were the peti-
tions which he expected they would, according to custom,
offer up for him. He told them that they were a miserably
deluded and deluding people, aiid would shortly bring their
country under the most insupportable servitude to which
any nation had ever been reduced. " For my part," added
he, " I am much prouder to have my head affixed to the
place where it is sentenced to stand than to have my pic-
ture hang in the king's bedchamber. So far from being
sorry that my quarters are to be sent to four cities of the
kingdom, I wish I had limbs enow to be dispersed into all
the cities of Christendom, there to remain as testimonies in
favor of the cause for which I suffer." This sentiment,
that very evening, while in prison, he threw into verse. The
poem remains-'-a signal monument of his heroic spirit, and
no despicable proof of his poetical genius.
Now was led forth, amid the insults of his enemies and
the tears of the people, this man of illustrious birth and of
the greatest renown in the nation, to suffer, for his adhering
to the laws of his country and the rights of his sovereign,
the ignominious death destined to the meanest malefactor.
E^ery attempt which the insolence of the governing party
had made to subdue his spirit had hitherto proved fruitless.
They made yet one effort more in this last and melancholy
scene, when all enmity arising from motives merely human
is commonly softened and disarmed. The executioner
brought that book, which had been published in elegant
Latin, of his great military actions, and tied it by a cord
about his neck. Montrose smiled at this new instance of
their malice. He thanked them, however, for their officious
zeal ; and said that he bore this testimony of his bravery
and loyalty witli more pride than he had ever worn the
Garter. Plaving asked whether they had any more in-
dignities to put upon him, and renewing some devout
ejaculations, he patiently endured the last act of the exe-
cutioner.
Thus perished, in the thirty-eighth year of his age, the
gallant Marquis of Montrose, the man whose military
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 517
genius, both by valor and conduct, had shone forth beyond
any which, during these civil disorders, had appeared in
the three kingdoms. The finer arts, too, he had in his
youth successfully cultivated ; and whatever was sublime,
elegant, or noble touched his great soul. Nor was he in-
sensible to the pleasures either of society or of love. Some-
thing, however, of the vast and unbounded characterized his
actions and deportment; and it was merely by an heroic
effort of duty that he brought his mind, impatient of supe-
riority, and even of equality, to pay such unlimited submis-
sion to the will of his sovereign.
The vengeance of the Covenanters was not satisfied with
Montrose's execution. Urrey, whose inconstancy now led
him to take part with the king, suffered about tlie same
time. Spotiswood of Daersie, a youth of eighteen. Sir
Francis Hay of Dalgetie, and Colonel Sibbald, all of them
of birth and character, underwent a like fate. These were
taken prisoners with Montrose. The Marquis of Huntley,
about a year before, had also fallen a victim to the severity
of the Covenanters.
The past scene displays in a fulj light the barbarity of
this theological faction ; the sequel will sufficiently display
their absurdity.
The king, in consequence of his agreement with the com-
missioners of Scotland, set sail for that country ; and being
escorted by seven Dutch ships of war, who were sent to
guard the herring fishery, he arrived in the frith of Ci'o-
marty. Before he was permitted to land, he was I'equired
to sign the covenant ; and many sermons and lectures were
made him exhorting him to persevere in that holy confed-
eracy.-"" Hamilton, Lauderdale, Dumfermling, and other
noblemen of that party whom they called Engagers, were
immediately separated from him, and obliged to retire to
their houses, where they lived in a private manner without
trust or authority. None of his English friends who had
served his father were allowed to remain in the kingdom.
The king himself found that he was considered as a mere
pageant of state, and that the few remains of royalty which
he possessed served only to draw on him the greater in-
dignities. One of the quarters of Montrose, his faithful
servant who had borne his commission, had been sent to
Aberdeen, and was still allowed to hang over the gates
"> Sir Edward Walker's Historical Discourses, p. 159.
518 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
when he passed by that place.^^ The general assembly, and
afterwards the committee of estates and tlie army, who
were entirely governed by the assembly, set forth a public
declaration in Which they protested " that they did not es-
]iOHse any malignant quarrel or party, but fought merely on
their former grounds or principles ; that they disclaimed all
the sins and guilt of the king and of his house ; nor would
they own him or his interest otherwise than with a subor-
dination to God, and so far as he owned and prosecuted the
cause of God and acknowledged the sins of his house and
of his former ways." ^^
The king, lying entirely at mercy, and having no assurance
of life or liberty further than was agreeable to the fancy of
these austere zealots, was constrained to embrace a measure
which nothing but the necessity of his affairs and his great
youth and inexperience could excuse. He issued a declara-
tion such as they required of him." He there gave thanks
for the merciful dispensations of Providence by which he
was recovered from the snare of evil counsel, had attained
a full persuasion of the righteousness of the covenant, and
was induced to cast himself and his interests wholly upon
God. He desired to be deeply humbled and afflicted in
spirit because of his father's following wicked measures,
opposing the covenant and the work of reformation, and
shedding the blood of God's people throughout all his do-
minions. He lamented the idolatry of his mother, and the
toleration of it in his father's house — a matter of great
offence, he said, to all the Protestant churches, and a great
provocation to hini who is a jealous God, visiting the sins of
the father upon the children. He professed that he would
have no enemies but the enemies of the covenant; and that
he detested all popery, superstition, prelacy, heresy, schism,
and profaneness ; and was resolved not to tolerate, much
less to countenance, any of them in any of his dominions.
He declared that he should never love or favor those who
had so little conscience as to follow his interests in preference
to the Gospel and the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And he
expressed his hope that, whatever ill success his former guilt
might have drawn upon his cause, yet now, having obtained
mercy to be on God's side and to acknowledge his own
cause subordinate to that of God, divine Providence would
crown his arms with victory.
11 Sir Edward Walker's Historical Discourses, p. 160.
" Sir Edward Walker's Historical Discourses, pp. 160, 167
>3 sir Edward Walker's Historical Discourses, p. 170.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 519
Still the Covenanters and the clergy were diffident of the
king's sincerity. Tlie facility which he discovered in yield-
ing whatever was required of him made them suspect that
he regarded his concessions merely as ridiculous farces to
which he must of necessity submit. TheCy had another trial
prepared for him. Instead of the solemnity of his corona^
tion, which was delayed, they were resolved that he should
pass through a public humiliation, and do penance before
the whole people. They sent him twelve articles of repen-
tancQ which he was to acknowledge ; ahd the king had
agreed that he would submit to this indignity. The various
transgressions of his father and grandfather, together with
the idolatry of his mother, are again enumerated and
aggravated in these articles ; and further declarations were
insisted on, that he sought the restoration of his rights for
the sole advancement of religion, and in subordination to
the kingdom of Christ." In short, having exalted the altar
above the throne and brought royalty under their feet, the
clergy were resolved to trample on it and vilify it by every
instance of contumely which their present influence enabled
them to impose upon their unhappy prince.
Charles in the mean time found his authority entirely
annihilated, as well as his character degraded. He was
consulted in no public measure. He was not called to assist
at any councils. His favor was sufficient to discredit any
pretender to office or advancement. All efforts which he
made to unite the opijosite parties increased the suspicion
which the Covenanters had entertained of him, as if he were
not entirely their own. Argyle, who, by subtleties and
compliances, was partly led and partly governed by this
wild faction, still turned a deaf ear to all advances which
the king made to enterinto confidence with him. Malignants
and engagers continued to be the objects of general hatred
and persecution ; and whoever was obnoxious to the clergy
failed not to have one or other of these epithets affixed to
him. The fanaticism which prevailed, being so full of sour
and angry principles, and so overcharged with various antip-
athies, had acquired a new object of abhorrence : these
were the sorcerers. So prevalent was tlie opinion of witch-
craft that great numbers accused of that crime were burned,
by sentence of the magistrates, throughout all parts of
Scotland. In a village near Berwick, which contained only
" Sir Edward Walker's Historical Discourses, p. 178.
520 HISTOKT OF ENGLAND.
fourteen houses, fourteen persons were punished by fire ;^^
and it became a science, everywhere much studied and
cultivated, to distinguish a true witch by proper trials and
symptoras.^^
The advance of the English army under Cromwell was
not able to appease or soften the animosities among the
parties in Scotland. The clergy were still resolute to exclude
all but their most zealoirs adherents. As soon as the Eng-
lish Parliament found that the treaty between tlie king and
the Scots would probably terminate in an accommodation,
they made preparations for a war which they saw would in
the end prove inevitable. Cromwell, having broken the
force and courage of the Irish, was sent for ; and he left the
command of Ireland to Ireton, who governed that kingdom
in the character of deputy, and with vigilance and industry
persevered in the work ,of subduing and expelling the
natives.
It was expected that Fairfax, who still retained the name
of general, would continue to act against Scotland, and
appear at the head of the forces — a station for which he was
well qualified, and where alone he made any figure. But
Fairfax, though he had allowed the army to make use of liis
name in murdering their sovereign and offei'ing violence to
the Parliament, had entertained insurmountable scruples
against invading the Scots, whom he considered as zealous
Presbyterians, and united to England by the sacred bands
of the covenant. He was further disgusted at the extremi-
ties into which he had already been hurried ; and was con-
firmed in his repugnance by the exhortations of his wife,
who had great influence over him, and was herself much
governed by the Presbyterian clergy. A committee of
Parliament was sent to reason with him, and Cromwell was
of the number. In vain did they urge that the Scots had
first broken the covenant by their invasion of England
under Hamilton, and that they would surely renew their
hostile attempts if not prevented by the vigorous measures
of the commonwealth. Cromwell, who knew the riwjd
inflexibility of Fairfax in everything which he regarded as
matter of principle, ventured to solicit him with the utmost
earnestness, and went so far as to shed tears of grief and
vexation on the occasion. No one could suspect any ambi-
tion in the man who labored so zealously to retain liis gen-
eral in that high office which, he knew, he himself was alone
1' Whitloeke, pp. 404, 408. w Whitlocke, pp. 396, 418.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 521
entitled to fill. The same warmth of temper which made '
Cromwell a frantic enthusiast rendered him the most dan-
gerous of hypocrites ; and it was to this turn of mind, as
much as to his courage and capacity, that he owed all his
wonderful successes. By the contagious ferment of his zeal
he engaged every one to co-o]ierate with him in his measui'es ;
and, entering easily and affectionately into every part which
he was disposed to act, he was enabled, even after multiplied
deceits, to cover, under a tempest of passion, all his crooked
schemes and profound artifices.
Fairfax having resigned his commission, it was bestowed
on Cromwell, who was declared captain-general of all the
forces in England. This command, in a commonwealth
■which stood entirely by arms, was of the utmost importance
and was the chief step which this ambitious politician had
yet made towards sovereign power. He immediately
marched his forces, and entered Scotland with an army of
sixteen thousand men.
The command of the Scottish army was given to Lesley,
an experienced officer, who formed a very proper plan of
defence. He intrenched himself in a fortified camp between
Edinburgh and Leith, and took care to remove from the
counties of Merse and the Lothians everything which could
serve to the subsistence of the English army. Cromwell
advanced to the Scotch camp, and endeavored by every
expedient to bring Lesley to a battle ; the prudent Scotch-
man knew that, though superior in numbers, his army was
much inferior in discipline to the English, and he carefully
kept himself within his intrenchments. By skirmishes and
small rencounters he tried to confirm the spirits of his sol-
diers, and he was successful in these enterprises. His army
daily increased both in number and courage. The(king
came to the camp, and having exerted himself in an action,
gained on the affections of the soldiery, who were more
desirous of serving under a young prince of spirit and vivac-
ity than under a committee of talking gownmen. The
clergy were alarmed. They ordered Charles immediately
to leave the camp. They also purged it carefully of about
four thousand majignants and engagers, whose zeal had led
them to attend the king, and who were the soldiers of chief
credit and experience in the nation." They then concluded
that they had an army composed entirely of saints, and
could not be beaten. They murmured extremely not only
" Sir Edward Walker, p. 165.
522 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
against theiv prudent general, but also against the Lord, on
account of his delays in giving them deliverance ; '* and they
plainly told Uun that if he would not save them fi-oin the
English sectaries, he should no longer be their God." An
advantage having offered itself on a Sunday, they hindered
the general from making use of it lest he should involve the
nation in the guilt of Sabbath-breaking.
Cromwell found himself in a very bad situation. He had
no provisions but what he received by sea. He had not had
the precaution to bring these in sufficient quantities, and hi.s
army was reduced to difficulties. He retired to Dunbar.
Le.sley followed him, and he encamped on the heights of
Laramermure, which overlook that town. There lay many
difficult passes between Dunbar and Berwick, and of these
Lesley had taken possession. The English general was re-
duced to extremities. He had even embraced a resolution
of sending by sea all his foot and artillery to England, and
of breaking through at all hazards with his cavalry. The
madness of the Scottish ecclesiastics saved him from this loss
and dishonor.
Night and day the ministers had been wrestling with the
Lord in prayer, as they term it ; and they fancied that they
had at last obtained the victory. Revelations, they said,
were made them that the sect.arian and heretical army, to-
gether with Agag, meaning Cromwell, was delivered into
their hands. Upon the faith of these visions, they forced
their general, in spite of his remonstrances, to descend into
the plain with a view of attacking the English in their
retreat. Cromwell, looking thi'ough a glass, saw the enemy's
camp in motion, and foretold, without the help of revela-
tions, that the Lord had delivered them into his hands. He
gave orders immediately for an attack. In this battle it
was easily observed that nothing in military actions can sup-
ply the place of discipline and experience ; and that, in the
presence of real danger, where men are not accustomed to
it, the fumes of enthusiasm presentl}' dissipate and lose their
influence. The Scots, though double in number to tlie
English, were soon put to flight, and jjursued with great
slaughter. The chief if not only resistance was made by
one regiment of Highlanders, that part of the army which
was the, least infected with fanaticism. No victory could
be more complete than this which was obtained by Crom-
well. About three thousand of the enemy were slain, and
■> Sir Edward Walker, p. 168. »' Whitlocke, p. 449.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 523
nine jthousand taken prisoners. Cromwell pursued his ad-
vantage, and took possession of Edinburgh and Leith. The
remnant of the Scottish army fled to Stii'ling. The approach
of the winter season, and an ague which seized Cromwell,
kept him from pushing the victory any furtlier.
The clergy made great lamentations, and told the Lord
that to them it was little to sacrifice their lives and estates,
but to him it was a great loss to suffer his elect to be de-
stroyed.^" They published a declaration containing the cause
of their late misfortunes. These visitations they ascribed
to the manifold i)rovocations. of the king's house, of which
they feared he had not yet thoroughly repented ; the secret
intrusion of malignants into the king's family and even into
the camp ; the leaving of a most malignant and profane
guard of horse, who, beirg sent for to be purged, came two
days before the defeat, and were allowed to fight with the
army ; the owning of the king's quarrel by many without
subordination to religion and liberty ; and the carnal self-
seeking of some, together with the neglect of family prayers
by others.
Cromwell, having been so successful in the war of the
sword, took up the pen against the Scottish ecclesiastics.
He wrote them some polemical letters, in which he main-
tained the chief points of the Independent thaolagy. He
took care lilcewise to retort on tliera their favorite argument
of providence, and asked them whether the Lord had not
declared against them ? But the ministers thought that the
same events which to their enemies were judgments, to
them were trials ; and they replied that the Lord had only
hidden his face for a time from Jacob. But Cromwell in-
sisted that the appeal had been made to God in the most
express and solemn manner, and that, in the field of Dunbar,
an irrevocable decision had been awarded in favor of the
English army."
»> Sir Edward Walker.
«i This is the best of Cromwell's wretched compositions that remain, and we
shall here extract a passage out of it : " You say you have not so learned Christ
as to hang the equity of your cause upon events. We could wish Ihat blindness
had not been upon your eyes to all those marvellous dispensations which God
had wrought lately in England. But did not you solemnly appeal and pray ?
Did not we do so too? And ought not we and you to think, with fear and trem-
bling, of the hand of the great God in this mighty and strange appearance of his,
but can sli"htlv call it an event ? Were not both your and our expectations renewed
from tinie°to time, while we waited on God, to see which way he would manifest
liinmelf upon our appeals? And shall we, after all these our prayers, fastings,
teai-s, expectations, and solemn appeals, call these mere events ? The Lord pity
you ! Surely we fear, because it has been a merciful and a gracious deliverance
" i beseech you in the bowels of Christ, search after the mind of the Lord in
524 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
[1651.J The defeat of the Scots was regarded by the
king as a fortunate event. The armies wliieh fought on
both sides were almost equally his enemies ; and the van-
quished were now obliged to give him some more authority,
and apply to him for support. The Parliament was sum-
moned to meet at St. Johnstone's. Hamilton, Lauderdale,
and all the engagers were admitted into court and oamp,
on condition of doing public penance and expressing re-
pentance for their late transgressions. Some malignants also
crept in under various pretences. The intended humiliation
or penance of the king was changed into the ceremony of
his coronation, which was performed at Scone with great
pomp and solemnity. But amid all this appearance of re-
spect, Charles remained in the hands of the most rigid Cove-
nanters ; and, though treated with civilitj^ and courtesy by
Argyle, a man of parts and address, he was little better than
a prisoner, and was still exposed to all the rudeness and
pedantry of the ecclesiastics.
This young prince was in a situation which verj- ill suited
his temper and disposition. All those good qualities which
he possessed — his affability, his wit, his gayety, his gentle-
manlike, disengaged behavior — were here so many vices;
and his love of ease, liberty, and pleasure was regarded as
the highest enormity. Though artful in the practice of
courtly dissimulation, the sanctified style was utterly un-
known to him, and he never could mould his deportment
into that starched grimace which the Covenanters required
as an infallible mark of conversion. The Duke of Bucking-
ham was the only English courtier allowed to attend him,
and by his ingenious talent for ridicule he had rendered
himself extremely agreeable to his master. While so many
objects of division surrounded them, it was difficult to be
altogether insensible to the temptation, and wholly to sup-
press the laugh. Obliged to attend, from morning to niglit
at prayers and sermons, they betrayed evident symptoms of
weariness or contempt. The clergy never could esteem the
king sufficiently regenerated ; and "by continual exhortations,
remonstrances, and reprimands, they still endeavored to
brir.g him to a juster sense of his spiritual duty.
The king's passion for the fair could not altogether be
restrained. lie had once been observed using some^familiar-
it towards you, and we shall Iielp you by our prayers that you may find it. For
yet, if we know our heart at all, our bowels do in Clirist yearn after the sodlv in
Scotland."— Thurloe, vol. 1. p. 158. ^ ^
HISTOKY OP ENGLAND. 525
ities with a young woman ; and a committee of ministers
was appointed, to reprove him for a behavior so unbecoming
a covenanted monarch. The spokesman of the committee,
one Douglas, began with a severe aspect, informed the king
that great scandal had been given to the godly, enlarged on
the heinous nature of sin, and concluded with exhorting his
majesty, whenever he was disposed to amuse himself, to be
more careful, for the future, in shutting the windows. This
delicacy, so unusual to the place and to the character of the
man, was remarked by the king, and he never forgot the
obligation.
The king, shocked at all the indignities, and perhaps still,
more tired with all the formalities to which he was obliged
to submit, made an attempt to regain his liberty. General
Middleton, at the head of some royalists, being proscribed
by the Covenanters, kept in the mountains, expecting some
opportunity of serving his master. The king resolved to join
this body. He secretly made his escape from Argyle, and
fled towards the Highlands. Colonel Montgomery, with a
troop of horse, was sent in pursuit of him. He overtook
the king, and persuaded him to return. The royalists, being
too weak to support him, Charles was the more easily in-
duced to comply. This incident procured him afterwards
better treatment and more authority, the Covenanters being
afraid of driving him by their rigors to some desperate reso-
lution. Argyle renewed his courtship to the king, and the
king, with equal dissimulation, pretended to repose great
confidence in Argyle. He even went so far as to drop hints
of his intention to marry that nobleman's daughter ; but he
had to do with a man too wise to be seduced by such gross
artifices.
As soon as the season would permit, the Scottish army
was assembled under Hamilton and Lesley, and the king
was allowed to join the camp. The forces of the western
counties, notwithstanding the imminent danger which
threatened their country, were resolute not to unite their
cause with that of an army which admitted any engagers or
malignants among them, and they kept in a body' apart
under Ker. They called themselves the protesters, and their
frantic clergy declaimed equally against the king and
against Cromwell. The other party were denominated res-
olutioners ; and these distinctions continued long after to
divide and agitate the kingdom.
Charles encamped at the Torwood, and his generals re-
526 HISTORY OF EJJGLAND.
solved to conduct themselves by the same cautious maxims
which, so long as they wei-e embraced, had been succcessful
during the former campaign. The town of Stirling lay at
his back, and the whole north supplied him with provisions.
Strong intrenehments defended his front, and it was in vain
that Cromwell made every attempt to bring him to an en-
gagement. After losing much time, the English general
sent Lambert over the frith into Fife, with an intention of
cutting off the provisions of the enemy. Lambert fell upon
Holborne and Brown, who commanded a party of the Scots,
and put them to rout with great slaughter. Cromwell also
passed over with his whole army, and, lying at the back of
the king, made it impossible for him to keep his post any
longer.
Charles, reduced to despair, embraced a resolution worthy
of a young prince contending for empire. Having the way
open, he resolved immediately to march into England, where
he expected that all his friends, and all those who were dis-
contented with the present government, would flock to his
standard. He persuaded the generals to enter into the same
, views ; and with one consent the army, to the number of
' fourteen thousand men, rose from their camp, and advanced
\ by great journeys towards the south.
Cromwell was surprised at this movement of the royal
array. Wholly intent on offending his enemy, he had ex-
posed his friends to imminent danger, and saw the king with
numerous forces marching into England, where his presence,
from the general hatred which prevailed against the Parlia-
, ment, was capable of producing some great revolution. But
if this conduct was an oversight in Cromwell, he quicklv re-
paired it by his vigilance and activity. Ho despatched let-
ters to the Parliament, exhorting them not to be dismayed
at the approach of the Scots ; he sent orders everywhere for
assembling forces to oppose the king ; he ordered Lambert
with a body of cavalry to hang upon the rear of the royal
army and infest their march ; and he himself, leaving Monk
with seven thousand men to complete the reduction of Scot-
land, followed the king with all the expedition possible.
Charles found himself disappointed in his expectations of
increasing his army. The Scots, terrified at the prospect of
so hazardous an enterprise, fell off in great numbers. The
English Presbyterians, having no warning given them of the
king's approach, were not prepared to "join him. To the
royalists this measure was equally unexpected, and they were
HISTOEY OF BXGLAND. 527
further deterred from joining the Scottisli army by the or-
ders which the committee of ministers had issued, not to
admit any, even in this desperate extremity, who would not
subscribe the covenant. The Earl of Derby, leaving the
Isle of Man, where he had hitherto maintained his indepen-
dence, was employed in levying forces in Cheshire and Lan-
cashire, but was soon supi:)ressed by a party of the parlia-
mentary army ; and the king, when he arrived at Worcester,
found that his forces, extremely harassed by a hasty and
fatiguing march, were not more numerous than when he
rose from his camp in the Torwood.
Such is the influence of established government that the
commonwealth, though founded in usurpation the most un-
just and unpopular, had authority sufficient to raise every-
where the militia of the counties ; and these, united with
the regular forces, bent all their efforts against the king. ;
With an army of about thirty thousand men, Cromwell fell
upon Worcester, and, attacking it on all sides, and meeting
with little resistance, except from Duke Hamilton and Gen-
eral Middleton, broke in upon the disordered royalists. The
streets of the city were strewn with dead. Hamilton, a
nobleman of bravery and honor, was mortally wounded ;
Massey wounded and taken prisoner; the king himself, hav-
ing given many proofs of personal valor, was obliged to fly.
The whole Scottish army was either killeff or taken pris-
oners. The country people, inflamed with national antip-
athy, put to death the few that escaped from the field of
battle.
The king left Worcester at six o'clock in the afternoon,
and, without halting, travelled about twenty-six miles in
company with fifty or sixty of his friends. To provide for
his safety, he thought it best to separate himself from his
companions, and he left them without communicating his
intentions to any of them. By the Earl of Derby's direc-
tions he went to Boscobel, a lone house in the borders of
Staffordshire, inhabited by one Penderell, a farmer. To
this man Charles intrusted himself. The man had dignity
of sentiments much above his condition, and though death
was denounced against all who concealed the king, and a
great reward promised to any one who should betray him,
he professed and maintained unshaken fidelity. He took
the assistance of his four brothers, equally honorable with
himself, and having clothed the king in a garb like their own,
they led hiui into the neighboring wood, put a bill into his
,528 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
hand, and pretended to employ themselves in cutting fagots.
Some nights he lay upon straw in the house, and fed on such
homely fare as it afforded. For a better concealment he
mounted upon an oak, where he sheltered himself ainongthe
leaves and branches for twenty-four hours. lie saw several
soldiers pass by. All of them were intent in search of the
king, and some expressed, in his hearing, their earnest wishes
of seizing him. This tree was afterwards denominated tlie
royal oak, and for many years was regarded by the neigh-
borhood with great veneration.
Charles was in the middle of the kingdom, and could
neither stay in his retreat nor stir a step from it without the
most imminent danger. Fear, hopes, and party zeal, inter-
ested multitudes to discover him, and even the smallest
indiscretion of his friends might prove fatal. Having joined
Lord Wilmot, who was skulking in the neighborhood, they
agreed to put themselves into the hands of Colonel Lane, a
zealous royalist, who lived at Bentley, not many miles distant.
The king's feet were so hurt by walking about in heavy
boots or countrymen's shoes which did not fit him, that he
was obliged to mount on horseback ; and he travelled in
this situation to Bentley, attended by the Penderells, who
had been so faithful to him. Lane formed a scheme for his
journey to Bristol, where, it was hoped, he would find a ship
in which he miglit transport himself. He had a near kins-
woman,^Mrs. Norton, who lived within three miles of that
city, and was with child, very near the time of her delivery.
He obtained a pass (for during those times of confusion this
precaution was requisite) for his sister, Jane Lane, and a
servant, to travel towards Bristol, under pretence of visiting
and attending her relation. The king rode before the lady
and personated the servant.
Wlien they arrived at Norton's, Mrs. Lane pretended
that she had brought along as her servant a poor lad, a
neighboring farmer's son, who was ill of an ague, and she
begged a private room for him, where he might be quiet.
Though Charles kept himself retired in this chamber, the
butler, one Pope, soon knew him. The king was alarmed,
but made the butler promise that he would keep the secret
from every mortal, even from his master ; and he was faith-
ful to his engagement.
No ship, it was found, would for a month set sail from
Bristol, either for France or Spain, and the king was
obliged to go elsewhere for a passage. He intrusted him-
HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 529
self to Colonel Windham, of Dorsetshire, an affectionate
partisan of the royal family. The natural effect of the long
civil wars, and of the furious rage to which all men were
wrought up in their different factions, was, that every one's
inclinations and affections were thoroughly known ; and
even the courage and fidelity of most men, by the variety
of incidents, had been put to trial. The royalists, too, had
many of them been obliged to make concealments in their
houses for themselves, their friends, or more valuable ef-
fects, and the arts of eluding the enemy had been frequently
practised. All these circumstances proved favorable to the
king in the present exigency. As he often passed through
the hands of Catholics, the '■ priest's hole," as they called it,
the place where they were obliged to conceal their perse-
cuted priests, was sometimes employed for sheltering their
distressed sovereign.
Windham, before he received the king, asked leave to
intrust the important secret to his mother, his wife, and
four servants, on whose fidelity he could rely. Of all these,
no one proved wanting either in honor or discretion. The
venerable old matron, on the reception of her royal 'guest,
expressed the utmost joy that, having lost, w^ithout regret,
three sons and one grandchild in defence of his father, she
was now reserved, in her declining years, to be instrumental
in the preservation of himself. Windham told the king
that Sir Thomas, his father, in the year 1636, a few days
before his death, called to him his five sons : " My children,"
said he, " we have hitherto seen> serene and quiet times
under our three last sovereigns, but I must now warn you
to prepare for clouds and storms. Factions arise on every
side and threaten the tranquillity of your native country.
But, whatever happen, do you faithfully honor and obey
your prince, and adhere to the crown. I charge you never
to forsake the crown, though it should hang upon a bush."
" These last words," added Windham, "made such impres-
sions on all our breasts that the many afflictions of these sad
times could never efface their indelible characters." From
innumerable instances it appears how deep-rooted in the
minds of the English gentry of that age was the principle
of loyalty to their sovereign — that noble and generous prin-
ciple, inferior only in excellence to the more enlarged and
moi-e enlightened affection towards a legal constitution.
But during those times of military usurpation, these pas-
sions were the same.
Vol. IV.— 34
530 HISTOEY OF BNGLA-N-D.
The king continued several days in Windham's house,
and all his friends in Britain, and in every part of Europe,
remained in the most anxious suspense with regard to his
fortunes. No one could conjecture whether he were dead
or alive ; and the report of his death being generally be-
lieved, happily relaxed the vigilant search of his enemies.
Trials were made to procure a vessel for hi» escape, but he
still met with disappointments. Having left Windham's
house, he was obliged again to return to it. He passed
through many other adventures, assumed different disguises,
in every step was exposed to imminent perils, and received
daily proofs of uncorrupted fidelity and attachment. The
sagacity of a smith, who remarked that his horse's shoes
had been made in the north, and not in the west, as he pre-
tended, once detected him, and he narrowly escaped. At
Shoreham, in Sussex, a vessel was at last found, in which
he embarked. He had been known to so many, that if he
had not set sail in that critical moment, it had been impos-
sible for him to escape. After one-and-forty days' conceal-
ment, he arrived safely at Fescamp, in Normandy. No less
than forty men and women had, at different times, been
privy to his concealment and escape.'''^
The battle of Worcester afforded Cromwell what he
called his " crowning mercy." ^* So elated was he that he
intended to have knighted, in the field, two of his generals,
Lambert and Fleetwood, but was dissuaded by his friends
from exerting this act of regal authority. His power and
ambition were too great to brook submission to the empty
name of a republic, which stood chiefly by his influence and
was supported by his victories. How early he entertained
thoughts of taking into his hand the reins of government
is uncertain. We are only assured that he now discovered
to his intimate friends these aspiring views, and even ex-
pressed a desire of assuming the rank of king, which he had
contributed, with such seeming zeal, to abolish.'"
The little popularity and credit acquired by the repub-
licans further stimulated the ambition of this enterprising
politician. These men had not that large thought nor those
comprehensive views which might qualify them for acting
the part of legislators ; selfish aims and bigotry chiefly en-
grossed their attention. They carried their rigid austerity
so far as to enact a law declaring fornication, after the first
22 Heatlie's Chronicle, p. 301. ^ Parliamentary Itistory, vol. xx. v). 47,
M Whitlooke, p. 523.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 531
act, to be felony, without benefit of clergy.^ They made
small progress in that important work which they professed
to have so much at heart — the settling of a new model of
representation, and fixing a plan of government. The na-
tion began to apprehend that they intended to establish
themselves as a perpetual legislature, and to confine the
whole power to sixty or seventy persons, who called them-
selves the Parliament of the commonwealth of England.
And while they pretended to bestow new liberties upon the
nation, they found themselves obliged to infi-inge even the
most valuable of those which, through time immemorial,
had been transmitted from their ancestors. Not daring to
intrust the trials of treason to juries, who, being chosen in-
differently from among the people, would have been little
favorable to the commonwealth, and would have formed
their verdict upon the ancient laws, they eluded that noble
institution by which the government of this island has ever
been so much distinguished. They had evidently seen in
the trial of Lilburn what they could expect from juries.
This man, the most turbulent, but the most upright and
courageous, of human kind was tried for a transgression of
the new statute of treasons ; but though he was plainly
guilty, he was acquitted, to the great joy of the people.
Westminster Hall — nay, the whole city — rang with shouts
and acclamations. Never did any established power receive
so strong a declaration of its usurpation and invalidity ;
and from no institution besides the admirable one of juries
could be expected this magnanimous effort.
That they might not for the future be exposed to af-
fronts which so much lessened their authority, the Parlia-
ment erected a high court of justice, which was to receive
indictments from the council of state. This court was com-
posed of men devoted to the ruling party, without name or
character, determined to sacrifice everything to their own
safety or ambition. Colonel Eusebius Andrews and Colo-
nel Walter Slingsby were tried by this court for conspira-
cies, and condemned to death. They were royalists, and
refused to plead before so illegal a jurisdiction. Love, Gib-
bons, and other Presbyterians, having entered into a plot
against the republic, were also tried, condemned, and exe-
cuted. The Earl of Derby, Sir Timothy Featherstone,
^^ Scobel, p. 121. A bill was introduced into the House against painting,
patches, and other immodest dress of women, but it did not pass.— Parliamentary
pistory, vol, xix. p. 263.
532 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
Bemboe, being taken prisoners after the battle of Worces-
ter, were put to death by sentence of a court-martial— a
method of proceeding declared illegal by that very Petition
of Right for which a former Parliament" had so sti-enuously
contended, and which, after great efforts, they had extorted
from the king.
Excepting their principles of toleration, the maxims by
which the republicans regulated ecclesiastical affairs no
more prognosticated any durable settlement than those by
which they conducted their civil concerns. Tlie Presbyte-
rian model of congregation, classes, and assemblies was not
allowed to be finished ; it seemed even the intention of
many leaders in the Parliament to admit of no established
Church, and to leave every one, without any guidance of
the magistrate, to embrace whatever sect and to support
whatever clergy were most agreeable to him.
The Parliament went so far as to make some approaches,
in one province, to their Independent model. Almost all
the clergy of Wales being ejected as malignants, itinerant
preachers with small salaries were settled, not above four or
five in each county ; and these being furnished with horses
at the public expense, hurried from place to place, and car-
ried, as they expressed themselves, the glad tidings of the
Gospel.^" They were all of them men of the lowest birth
and education, who had deserted mechanical trades to fol-
low this new profession ; and in this particular, as well as
in their wandering life, they pretended to be more truly
apostolical.
The republicans, both by the turn of their disposition
and by the nature of the instruments which they employed,
were better qualified for acts of force and vigor than for the
slow and deliberate work of legislation. Notwithstanding
the late wars and bloodshed and the present factions, the
power of England had never, in any period, appeared so
formidable to the neighboring kingdoms as it did at this
time, in the hands of the commonwealth. A numerous army
served equally to retain every one in implicit subjection to
established authority, and to strike a terror into foreign na-
tions. The power of peace and war was lodged in the same
hands with that of imposing taxes ; and no difference of
views among the several members of the legislature could
any longer be apprehended. The present impositions,
though much superior to what had ever formerly been ex-
's Dr. John Walker's Attempt, p. 117, et seq.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 533
perienced, weve in reality moci orate, and what a nation so
opulent could easily bear. The military genius of the peo-
ple had, by the civil contests, been roused from its former
lethargy, and excellent officers were formed in every branch
of service. The confusion into which all things had been
thrown had given opportunity to men of low stations to
break through their obscurity, and to raise themselves by
their courage to commands which they were well qualified
to exercise, but to wliich their birth could never have en-
titled them ; and while so great a power was lodged in such
active hands, no wonder the republic was successful in all
its enterprises.
Blake, a man of great courage and a generous dispo-
sition, the same person who had defended Lyme and Taun-
ton with such unshaken obstinacy against the late king,
was made an admiral ; and though he had hitherto been
accustomed only to land service, into which, too, he had
not entered till past fifty years of age, he soon raised the
naval glory of the nation to a greater height than it had
ever .attained in any former period. A fleet was put under
his command, and he received orders to pursue Prince Ru-
pert, to whom the king had intrusted that squadron which
had deserted to him. liupert took shelter in Kinsale ; and
escaping thence, fled towards the coast of Portugal.
Blake pursued and chased him into the Tagus, where he
intended to make an attack upon him. But the King of
Portugal, moved by the favor which, throughout all Europe,
attended the royal cause, refused Blake admittance, and
aided Prince Rupert in making his escape. To be revenged
of this partiality, the English admiral made prize of twenty
Portuguese ships richly laden ; and he threatened still fur-
ther vengeance. The King of Portugal, dreading so dan-
gerous a foe to his newly acquired dominion, and sensible
of the unequal contest in which he was engaged, made all
possible submissions to the haughty republic, and was at
last admitted to negotiate the renewal of his alliance with
England. Prince Rupert, having Ijst a, great part of his
squadron on the coast of Spain, made sail towards the West
Indies. His brother. Prince Maurice, was there shipwrecked
in a hurricane. Everywhere this squadron subsisted by
privateering, sometimes on English, sometimes on Spanish
vessels. And Rupert at last returned to Prance, where he
disposed of the remnant of his fleet, together with his prizes.
All the settlements in America, except New England,
534 HISTOBT OF ENGLAND.
■which had been planted entirely by the Puritans, adhered
to tlie royal party, even after the settlement of the vejjub-
lic ; and Sir George Aysoue was sent with a squadron to re-
duce them. Bermudas, Antigua, and Virginia were soon
subdued. Barbadoes, commanded by Lord Willoughbj' of
Parham, made some resistance, but was at last obliged to
submit.
With equal ease were Jersey, Guernsey,^ Scilly, and the
Isle of Man brought under subjection to the republic ; and
the sea, which had been much infested by privateers from
these islands, was rendered safe to the English commei-ce.
The Countess of Derby defended the Isle of Man, and with
great reluctance yielded to the necessity of surrendering to
the enemy. This lady, a daughter of the illustrious house
of Trimoille, in France, had during the civil war displayed
a manly courage by her obstinate defence of Latham House
against the parliamentary forces ; and she retained the glory
of being the last person in the three kingdoms, and in all
their dependent dominions, who submitted to the victorious
commonwealth."
Ireland and Scotland were now entirely subjected and
reduced to tranquillity. Ireton, the new deputy of Ireland,
at the head of a numerous army, thirty thousand strong,
prosecuted the work of subduing the revolted Irish ; and he
defeated them in many rencounters, wliich, though of them-
selves of no great moment, proved fatal to their declining
cause. He punished without mercy all the prisoners who
had any hand in the massacres. Sir Phelim O'Neale, among
the rest, was, some time after, brought to the gibbet, and
suffered an ignominious death, which he had so well merited
by his inhuman cruelties. Limerick, a considerable town,
still remained in the hands of the Irish ; and Ireton, after a
vigorous siege, soon made himself master of it. He was
here infected with the plague, and shortly after died — a
memorable personage, much celebrated for his vigilance,
industry, capacity, even for the strict execution of justice in
that unlimited command wliich he possessed in Ireland.
He was observed to be inflexible in all his purposes ; and it
was believed by many that he was animated with a sincere
and passionate love of liberty, and never could have been
induced by any motive to submit to the smallest appearance
of regal government. Cromwell appeared to be much
affected by his death ; and the republicans, who reposed
'' See note [II] at the end of the Tolume.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 535
great confidence in him, were inconsolable. To show their
regard for his merit and services, they bestowed an es-
tate of two thousand pounds a year on his family, and
honored him with a magnificent funeral at the public charge.
Though the established government was but the mere
shadow of a commonwealth, yet was it beginning, by proper
arts, to encourage that public spirit which no other species
of civil polity is ever able fully to inspire.
The command of the army in Ireland devolved on Lieu-
tenant-General Ludlow. The civil government of the island
was intrusted to commissioners. Ludlow continued to push
the advantages against the Irish, and everywhere obtained
an easy victory. That unhappy people, disgusted with the
king on account of those violent declarations against them
and their religion which had been extorted by the Scots,
applied to the King of Spain, to the Duke of Lorraine, and
found assistance nowhere. Clanricarde, unable to resist the
prevailing power, made submissions to the Parliament, and
retii-ed into England, where he soon after died. He was a
steady Catholic, but a man much respected by all parties.
The successes which attended Monk in Scotland were
no less decisive. That able general laid siege to Stirling
Castle; and though it was well provided for defence, it was
soon surrendered to him. He there became master of all
the records of tlie kingdom, and he sent them to England.
The Earl of Leven, the Earl of Crawford, Lord Ogilvy, and
other noblemen, having met near Perth in order to concert
measures for raising a new army, were suddenly set upon
by Colonel Alured, and most of them taken prisoners. Sir
Philip Musgrave, with some Scots, being engaged at Dum-
fries in a like enterprise, met with a like fate. Dundee was
a town well fortified, supplied with a good garrison under
Lumisden, and full of all the rich furniture, the plate, and
money of the kingdom, which had been sent thither as to a
place of safety. Monk appeared before it; and having
made a breach, gave a general assault. He carried the town ;
and, following the example and instructions of Cromwell,
put all the inhabitants to the sword in order to strike a
general terror into the kingdom. Warned by this example,
Aberdeen, St. Andrew's, Inverness, and other towns and
forts, yielded of their own accord to the enemy. Argyle
made his submission to the English commonwealth ; and
excepting a few i-oyalists who remained some time in the
mountains under the Earl of Glencairn, Lord Balcarras, and
536 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
General Middleton, that Mngdom, whicli had hitherto
throuo-h all ages, by means of its situation, poverty, and
valor, maintained its independence, was reduced to total
subjection.
The English Parliament sent Sir Harry Vane, St. John,
and other commissioners to settle Scotland. These men,
who possessed little of the true spirit of liberty, knew how
to maintain the appearance of it ; and they requii-ed the
voluntary consent oi all the counties .ind towns of this con-
quered kingdom before they would unite them into the same
commonwealth with England. The clergy protested, be-
cause they said this incorporating union would draw along
with it a subordination of the Church to the State in the
things of Christ.^* English judges joined to some Scottish
were appointed to detei'mine all causes ; justice was strictly
administered ; order and peace maintained ; and the Scots,
freed from the tyranny of the ecclesiastics, were not much
dissatisfied with the present government.^ The prudent
conduct of Monk, a man who possessed a capacity for the
arts both of peace and war, served much to reconcile the
minds of men and to allay their prejudices. '
[1652.] By the total reduction and pacification of the
British dominions, the Parliament had leisure to look abroad,
and to exert their vigor in foreign enterprises. The Dutch
were the first that felt the weight of their arms.
During the life of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange,
the Dutch republic had maintained a neutrality in the civil
wars of England, and had never interposed, except by her
good offices, between the contending parties. When Will-
iam, who had married an English princess, succeeded to his
father's commands and authority,*" the States, both before
and after the execution of the late king, were accused of
taking steps more favorable to the royal cause, and of be-
traying a great prejudice against that of the Parliament.
It was long before the envoy of the English commonwealth
could obtain an audience of the States-general. The mur-
derers of Dorislaus were not pursued with such rigor as the
Parliament expected. And much regard had been paid to
the king, and many good offices performed to him, both
by the jDublic and by men of all ranks in the United Prov-
inces.
After the death of William, Prince of Orange,'^ which
2s Whitlocke, p. 496. Heatlio's Chronicle, d. 307.
"> See note [KK] at tUe eiKl o£ the volume. " » 1617. =■ On October 17, 1630.
HISTOBY OF ENGLAND. 537
was attended with the depression of his party and the
triumph of the Dutch republicans, the Parliament thought
that the time was now favorable for cementing a closer con-
federacy with the States. St. John, chief-justice, who was
sent over to the Hague, had entertained the idea of forming
a kind of coalition between the two republics, which would
have rendered their interests totally inseparable ; but fear-
ing that so extraordinary a project would not be relished,
he contented himself with dropping some hints of it, and
openly went no further than to propose a strict defensive
alliance between England and the United Provinces, such
as has now for near seventy years taken place between these
friendly powers.'^ But the States, who were unwilling to
form a nearer confederacy with a government whose meas-
ures were so obnoxious and whose situation seemed so pre-
carious, offered only to renew the former alliances with Eng-
land ; and the haughty St. John, disgusted with this disap-
pointment, as well as incensed at many affronts which had
been offered him with impunity by the retainers of the
Palatine and Orange families, and indeed by the populace
in general, returned into England, and endeavored to foment
a quarrel between the republics.
The movements of great states are often directed by as
slender springs as those of individuals. Though war with
so considerable a naval power as the Dutch, who were in
peace with all their other neighbors, might seem dangerous
to the yet unsettled commonwealth, tlwre were several mo-
tives which at this time induced the English Parliament to
embrace hostile measures. Many of the members thought
that a foreign war would serve as a pretence for continuing
the same Parliament, and delaying the new model of a rep-
resentative with which the nation had so long been flattered.
Others hoped that the war would furnish a reason for main-
taining some time longer that numerous standing army
which was so much c >mplained of."^ On the other hand,
some who dreaded the increasing power of Cromwell, ex-
pected that the great expense of naval armaments would
prove a motive for diminishing the military establishment.
To divert the attention of the public from domestic quarrels
towards foreign transactions seemed, in the present disposi-
tion of men's minds, to be good policy. The superior power
82 Tlmrloe, toI. i. p. 1S2.
33 We are told in the Life of Sir Harry Vane that that famous repuhlican
opposed the Dutch war, and that it was the military gentlemen chiefly who sup-
ported that measure.
538 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
of the English commonwealth, together with its advantages
of situation, promised success ; and the parliamentary leaders
hoped to gain many rich prizes from the Dutch, to distress
and sink their flourishing commerce, and by victories to
throw a lustre on their own establishment which was so new
and unpopular. All these views, enforced by the violent
spirit of St. John, who had great influence over Cromwell,
determined the Parliament to change the purposed alliance
into a furious war against the United Provinces.
To cover these hostile intentions, the Parliament, under
pretence of providing for the interests of commerce, em-
braced such measures as they knew would give disgust to
the States. They framed the famous act of navigation
which prohibited all nations from importing into England
in their bottoms any commodity which was not the growth
and manufacture of their own country. By this law, though
the terms in which it was conceived were general, the Dutch
were principally affected, because their country produces
few commodities, and they subsist chiefly by being the gen-
eral carriers and factors of Europe. Letters of reprisal
were granted to several merchants, who complained of in-
juries which they pretended they had received from the
States ; and about eighty Dutch ships fell into their hands,
and were made prizes. The cruelties committed on the Eng-
lish at Amboyna, which were certainly enormous, but which
seemed to be buried in oblivion by a thirty years' silence,
were again made the ground of complaint ; and the allow-
ing the murderers of Dorislaus to escape, and the conniving
at the insults to which St. John had been exposed, were
represented as symptoms of an unfriendly, if not a hostile
disposition in the States.
The States, alarmed at all these steps, sent orders to
their ambassadors to endeavor the renewal of the treaty of
alliance, which had been broken off by the abrupt departure
of St. John. Not to be unprepared, they equipped a fleet
of a hundred and fifty sail, and took care by their ministers
at London to inform the council of state of that armament.
This intelligence, instead of striking terror into the English
republic, was considered as a menace, and further confirmed
the Parliament in their hostile resolutions. The minds of
men in both states were every day more irritated against
each other ; and it was not long before these humors broke
forth into action.
Tromp, an admiral of groat renown, received from the
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 539
States the command of a fleet of forty-two sail, in order to
protect the Dutch navigation against the privateers of the
English. Il3 was forced by stress of weather, as he alleged,
to take shelter in the road of Dover, where he met with
Blake, who commanded an English fleet much inferio- in
number. Who was the aggressor in the action which en-
sued between these two admirals, both of them men of such
prompt and fiery dispositions, it is not easy to determine,
since each of them sent to his own state a relation totally
opposite in all its circumstances to that of the other, and
yet supported by the testimony of evei-y captain in his fleet.
Blake pretended that, having given a signal to the Dutch
admiral to strike, Trorap, instead of complying, fired a
broadside at him. Tromp asserted that he was preparing
to strike, and that the English admiral, nevertheless, began
hostilities. It is certain that the admiralty of Holland, who
are distinct from the council of state, had given Tromp no
orders to strike, but had left him to his own discretion with
regard to that vain but much-contested ceremonial. They
seemed willing to introduce the claim of an equality with
the new commonwealth, and to interpret the former respect
paid the English flag as a deference due only to the monar-
chy. This circumstance forms a strong presumption against
the narrative of the Dutch admiral. Tlie whole Orange
party, it must be remarked, to which Tromp was suspected
to adhere, were desirous of a war with England.
Blake, though his squadron consisted only of flfteen
vessels, reinforced, after the battle began, by eight under
Captain Bourne, maintained the fight with bravery for five
hours, and sank one ship of the enemy and took another.
Night parted the combatants, and the Dutch fleet retired
towards the coast of Holland. The populace of London
were enraged, and would have insulted the Dutch ambas-
sadors, who lived at Chelsea, had not the council of state
sent guards to protect them.
When the States heard of this action, of which the con-
sequences were easily foreseen, they were in the utmost
consternation. They immediately dispatched Pauw, Pen-
sionary of Holland, as their ambassador extraordinary to
London, and ordered him to lay before the Parliament the
narrative which Tromp had sent of the late rencounter.
They entreated them, by all the bands of their common re-
ligion and common liberties, not to precipitate themselves into
hostile measures, but to appoint commissioners, who should
540 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
examine every circumstance of the action, and clear np the
truth, which lay in obscurity ; and they pretended that
they had given no oi'ders to their admiral to offer any
violence to the English, but would severely punish him if
they found, upon inquiry, that he had been guilty of an
action which they so much disapproved. The imperious
Parliament would hearken to none of these reasons or
remonstrances. Elated by the numerous successes which
they had obtained over their domestic enemies, they thought
that everything must yield to their fortunate arms; and
they gladly seized the opportunity which they sought of
making war upon the States. They demanded that, with-
out any further delay or inquiry, reparation should be made
for all the damages which the English had sustained ; and
when this demand was not complied with, they despatched
orders for commencing war against the United Provinces.
Blake sailed northwards with a numerous fleet, and fell
upon the herring busses, which were escorted by twelve
men-of-war. All these he either took or dispersed. Tromp
followed him with a fleet of above a hundred sail. When
these two admirals were within sight of each other, and
preparing for battle, a furious storm attacked them. Blake
took shelter in the English harbors. The Dutch fleet was
dispersed and received great damage.
Sir George Ayscue, thougli he commanded only forty
ships, according to the English accounts, engaged near
Plymouth the famous De Ruiter, who had under him fifty
ships of war with thirty merchantmen. The Dutch ships
were indeed of inferior force to the English. De Ruiter,
the only admiral in Europe wlio has attained a renown
equal to that of the greatest general, defended himself so
well that Ayscue gained no advantage over him. Night
parted them in the greatest heat of the action. De Ruiter
next day sailed off with his convoy. The English fleet
had been so shattered in the fight that it was not able to
pursue.
Near the coast of Kent, Blake, seconded by Bourne and
Pen, met a Dutch squadron nearly equal in numbers, com-
manded by De Witte and De Ruiter. A battle was fought,
much to the disadvantage of the Dutch. Their rear-
admiral was boai-ded and taken. Two other vessels were
sunk, and one blown up. The Dutch next day made sail
towards Holland.
The English wore not so successful in the Mediterranean.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 541
Van Galen, with much superior force, attacked Captain
Badily and defeated liim. lie bought, however, his victory
witli the loss of his life.
Sea-fights are seldom so decisive as to disable the
vanquished from making head in a little time against the
victors. Tromp, seconded by De Raiter, met near the
Goodwins, with Blake, whose fleet was inferior to the
Dutch, but who resolved not to decline the combat. A
furious battle commenced, where the admirals on both
sides, as well as the inferior officers and seamen, exerted
great bravery. In this action the Dutch had the advantage.
Blake himself was wounded. The Garland and Bonaven-
ture were taken. Two ships were burned and one sunk;
and night came opportunely to save the English fleet.
After this victory, Tromp, in a bravado, fixed a broom to
his mainmast, as if he were resolved to sweejj the sea
entirely of all English vessels.
[16o3.] Great preparations were made in England in
order to wipe off this disgrace. A gallant fleet of eighty
sail was fitted out. Blake commanded, and Dean under
him, together with Monk, who had been sent for from Scot-
land. ■ When the English lay off Portland, they desciied,
near break of day, a Dutch fleet of seventy-six vessels sail-
ing up the Channel, along with a convoy of three hundred
merchantmen, who had received orders to wait at the Isle
of Rhe till the fleet should ari-ive to escort them. Tromp,
and under him De Ruiter, commanded the Dutch. This
battle was the most furious that had yet been fought be-
tween these warlike and rival nations. Three days was the
combat continued Avith the utmost rage and obstinacy; and
Blake, who was victor, gained not more honor than Tromp,
who was vanquished. The Dutch admiral made a skilful
retreat, and saved all the merchant-ships exce])t thirty.
He lost, however, ele.ven ships-of-war, had two thousand
men slain, and near one thousand five hundred taken
prisoners. The English, though many of their ships were
extremely shattered, had but one sunk. Their slain were
not much inferior in number to those of the enemy.
All these successes of the English were chiefly owing to
the superior size of their vessels, an advantage which all
the skill and bravery of the Dutch admirals could not com-
T)ensate. By means of ship-money — an imposition which
liad been so much complained of, and in some respects,
' with reason — the late king had put the navy into a situation
542 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
which it had never attained in any former reign ; and he
ventured to build ships of a size which was then unusual.
But the misfortunes' which the Dutch met with in battle
were small in comparison of those which their trade sus-
tained from the English. Tlieir whole commerce by the
Channel was cut off; even that to the Baltic was much
infested by English privateers. Their lishei-ies were totally
suspended. A great number of their ships, above one
thousand six hundred, had fallen into the hands of the
enemy. And all this distress they suffered, not for any
national interests or necessity, but from vain points of
honor and personal resentments, of which it was difficult to
give a satisfactory account to the public. They resolved,
therefore, to gratify the pride of the Parliament, and to
make some advances towards peace. They met not, how-
ever, with a favorable reception ; and it was not without
pleasure that they learned the dissolution of that haughty
assembly by the violence of Cromwell, an event from which
they expected a more prosperous turn to their affairs.
The zealous republicans in the Parliament had not been
the chief or first promoters of the war ; but when it was
once entered upon, they endeavored to di-aw from it every
possible advantage. On all occasions they set up the fleet
in opposition to the army, and celebrated the glory and
successes of their naval armaments. Tliey insisted on the
intolerable expense to which the nation was subjected, and
urged the necessity of diminishing it by a reduction of the
land forces. They had ordered some regiments to serve
on board the fleet in the quality of marines. And Crom-
well, by the whole train of their proceedings, evidently
saw that they had entertained a jealousy of his power and
ambition, and were resolved to bring him to a subordina-
tion under their authority. Without scruple or delay, he
resolved to prevent them.
On such firm foundations was built the credit of this
extraordinary man that, though a great master of fraud
and dissimulation, he judged it superfluous to employ any
disguise in conducting this bold enterprise. He summoned
a general council of officers, and immediately found that
they were disposed to receive whatever impressions he was
pleased to give them. Most of them were his creatures,
had owed their advancement to his favor, and relied entirely
upon him for their future preferment. The breach being
already made between the military and civil powers, when
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 543
the late king was seized at Holdenby, tlie general officers
regarded the Parliaineut as at once their creature and their
rival ; and thought that they themselves were entitled to
share among them those offices and riches of which its
members had so long kept possession. Harrison, Rich,
Overton, and a few others who retained some principle
were guided by notions so extravagant that they were
easily deluded into measures the most violent and most
criminal ; and the whole army had already been guilty of
such illegal and atrocious actions that they could entertain
no further scruple with regard to any enterprise which
might serve their selfish or fanatical purposes.
In the councilof officers it was presently voted to frame
a remonstrance to the Parliament. After complaining of
the arrears due to the army, they there desired the Parlia-
ment to reflect how many years they had sat, and what pro-
fessions they had formerly made of their intentions to new-
model the representative and establish successive parlia-
ments, who might bear the burden of national affairs, from
which they themselves would gladly, after so much danger
and fatigue, be at last relieved. They confessed that the
Parliament had achieved great enterprises and had sur-
mounted mighty difficulties; yet was it an injury, they said,
to the rest of the nation to be excluded from bearing any
part in the service of their country. It was now full time
for them to give place to others ; and they therefore desired ,
them, after settling a council who might execute the laws ;
during the interval, to summon a new Parliament, and '
establish that free and equal government which they had so
long promised to the people.
The Parliament took this remonstrance in ill part, and
made a sharp reply to the council of officers. The officers
insisted on their advice; and by mutual altercation and
opposition the breach became still wider between the army
and the commonwealth. Cromwell, finding matters ripe for
his purpose, called a council of officers, in order to come to
a determination with regard to the public settlement. As
he had here many friends, so had he also some opponents.
Harrison, having assured the council that the general sought
only to pave the way for the government of Jesus and his
saints. Major Streater briskly replied that .lesus ought then
to come quickly ; for if he delayed it till after Christmas, he
would come too late; he would find his place occupied.
While the officers were in debate. Colonel Ingoldsby in^
644 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
formed Cromwell that the Parliament was sitting, and had
come to a resolution not to dissolve themselves, but to fill
up the House by new elections, and was at that very time
engaged in deliberations with regard to this exjiedient.
Cromwell, in a rage, immediately hastened to the House,
and carried a body of three hundred soldiers along with him.
Some of them he placed at the door, some in the lobby,
some on the stairs. He first addressed himself to his friend
St. John, and told liim that he had come with a purjiose of
doing what grieved him to the very soul, and what he had
earnestly with tears besought the Lord not to im])ose u])on
him ; but there was a necessity, in order to the glory of God
and good of the nation. He sat down for some time, and
heard the debate. He beckoned Harrison, and told him
that he now judged the Parliament rijie for a dissolution.
" Sii-," said Harrison, " the work is very great and dangerous.
I desire you seriously to consider before you engage in it."
" You say well," replied the general ; and tliereu])on sat still
about a quarter of an hour. When the question was ready
to be put, he said again to Harrison, "This is the time. I
must do it." And suddenly starting up, lie loaded the
Parliament with the vilest rejiroaches for their tyranny,
ambition, oppression, and robbery of the public. Tiien
stamping with his foot, which was a signal for the soldiers
to enter, " For shame ! " said he to the Parliament, " get you
gone; give place to honester men, to those who will more
faithfully discharge their trust. You are no longer a Parliar
ment. I tell you, you are no longer a Parliament. The
Lord has done with yon. He has chosen other instruments
for carrying on his work." Sir Harry Vane exclaiming
against this jiroceeding, he cried ^^•ith a loud voice, "O Sir
Harry Vane ! Sir Harry Vane ! The Lord deliver me from Sir
Harry Vane ! " Taking hold of Martin by the cloak, " Thou
art a whoremaster," said he. To another, "Thou art an
adulterer." To a third, "Thou art a drunkard and a
glutton." "And thou an extortioner," to a fourth. He
commanded a soldier to seize the mace. " What shall we
do with this bauble? Here, take it away. It is you," said
he, addressing himself to the House, "that have forced me
upon this. I have sought the Lord night and day that he
would rather slay me tlian put me upon this work." Hav-
ing commanded the soldiers to clear the hall, he himself
went out the last, and, ordering the doors to be locked,
departed to his lodgings in Whitehall.
HISTOET OP ENGLAND. , 545
In this furious manner, which so well denotes his genuine
character, did Cromwell, without the least opposition, or
even murmur, annihilate that famous assembly which had
filled all Europe with the renown of its actions and with
astonishment at its crimes, and whose commencement was
not more ardently desired by the people than was its final
dissolution. All parties now reaped successively the melan-
choly pleasure of seeing the injuries which they had suffered
revenged on their enemies, and that, too, by the same arts
which had been practised against them. The king had, in
some instances, stretched his prerogative beyond its just
bounds ; and, aided by the Church, had well-nigh put an end
to all the liberties and privileges of the nation. The Pres-
byterians checked the progress of the court and clergy, and
excited by cant and hypocrisy the populace, first to tumults,
then to war, against the king, the peers, and all the royalists.
No sooner had they reached the pinnacle of grandeur than
the Independents, under the appearance of still greater
sanctity, instigated the army against them, and reduced them
to subjection. The Independents, amid their empty dreams
of liberty, or rather of dominion, were oppressed by the
rebellion of their own servants, and found themselves at
once exposed to the insults of power and hatred of the ~
people. By recent as well as all ancient example, it was 'it
become evident that illegal violence, with whatever pretences i
it may be covered, and whatever object it may pursue, must /
inevitably end at last in the arbitrary and despotic govern-^^'
ment of a single person.
Vol. IV.— 35
546 HISTOET OF ENSLANX>.
CHAPTER LXI
ceomwell's bieth and pkivate life. — baeebone's paelia-
ment. ceomwell made peotectoe. peace "with hol-
land. a new parliament. insueebction op the
eoyalists. state of europe. ^wae with spain.
jamaica conquered. success and death op admiral
blake. domestic administration of cromwell.
humble petition and advice. dunkirk taken.
sickness op the protector. his death and char-
ACTER.
[1653.] Oliver Cromwell, in whose hands the dissolu-
tion of the Parliament had left the whole power, civil and
military, of three kingdoms, was born at Huntingdon, the
last year of the former century, of a goodly family ; though
he himself, being the son of a second brother, inherited but
a small estate from his father. In the course of his educa-
tion he had been sent to the university, but his genius was
found little fitted for the calm and elegant occupations of
learning, and he made small proficiencies in his studies. He
even threw himself into a dissolute and disorderly course of
life ; and he consumed in gaming, drinking, debauchery, and
country riots the more early years of his youth, and dissi-
pated part of his patrimony. All of a sudden the sjsirit of
reformation seized him ; he married, affected a grave and
composed behavior, entered into all the zeal and rigor of the
puritanical party, and offered to restore to every one what-
ever sums he had formerly gained by gaming. The same
vehemence of temper which had transported him into the
extremes of pleasure now distinguished his religious habits.
His house was the resort of all the zealous clergy of the
party ; and his hospitality, as well as his liberalities to the
silenced and deprived ministers, proved as chargeable as
his former debaucheries. Though he had acquired a toler-
able fortune by a maternal uncle, he found his affairs
so injured by his expenses that he was obliged to take
a farm at St. Ives and apply himself for some years to
agriculture as a profession. But this expedient served
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 547
rather to involve him in further debts and difficulties. The
long prayers which he said to his family in the morning and
again in the afternoon consumed liis own time and that of
his ploughmen, and he reserved no leisure for the care of
his temporal affairs. His active mind, superior to the low
occupations to which he was condemned, preyed upon it-
self ; and he indulged his' imagination in visions, illumina-
tions, revelations — the great nourishment of that hypo-
chondrical temper to which he was ever subject. Urged by
his wants and his piety, he made a party with liambden,
his near kinsman, who was pressed only by the latter mo-
tive, to transport himself into New England, now become
the retreat of the more zealous among the puritanical party ;
and it was an order of council which obliged them to dis-
embark and remain in England. The Earl of Bedford, who
possessed a large estate in the Fen country, near the Isle of
Ely, having undertaken to drain these morasses, was obliged
to apply to the king ; and by the powers of the prerogative,
he got commissioners appointed who conducted that work
and divided the new-acquired land among the several pro-
prietors. He met with opposition from many, among whom
Cromwell distinguished himself ; and this was the first j)ub-
lic opjDortunity which he had met with of discovering the
factious zeal and obstinacy of his character.
From accident and intrigue he was chosen by the town of
Cambridge member of the Long Parliament. His domestic
affairs were then in great disorder ; and he seemed not to
possess any talents which could qualify him to rise in that
public sphere into which he was now at last entered. His
person was ungraceful, his dress slovenly, his voice un-
tunable, his elocution homely, tedious, obscure, and embar-
rassed. The fervor of his spirit frequently prompted him to
rise in the House, but he was not heard with attention.
His name, for above two years, is not to be found oftener
than twice in any committee ; and those committees into
which he was admitted were chosen for affairs which would
more interest the zealots than the men of business. In
comparison of the eloquent speakers and fine gentlemen of
the House, he was entirely overlooked ; and his friend
Hambden alone was acquainted with the depth of his
genius, and foretold that if a civil war should ensue, he
would soon rise to eminence and distinction.
Cromwell himself seems to have been conscious where
his strength lay ; and, partly from that motive, partly from
5i3 HISTOKY OF ENGLAND.
the uncontrollable fury of his zeal, he always joined that
party which pushed everything to extremities against the
king. He was active in promoting the famous remonstrance
which was the signal for all the ensuing commotions ; and
when, after a long debate, it was carried by a small majority,
he told Lord Falkland that if the question had been lost,
he was resolved next day to have converted into ready
money the remains of his fortune, and immediately to have
left the kingdom. Nor was this resolution, he said, peculiar
to himself ; many others of his party he knew to be equally
determined.
He was no less than forty-three years of age when he first
embraced the military profession ; and by force of genius,
without any master, he soon became an excellent officer,
though perhaps he never reached the fame of a consummate
commander. He raised a troop of horse, fixed his quarters
in Cambridge, exerted great severity towards that uni-
versity, which zealously adhered to the royal party, and
showed himself a man who would go all lengths in favor of
that cause which he had espoused. He would not allow his
soldiers to perplex their heads with those subtleties of fight-
ing by the king's authority against his person, and of obey-
ing his majesty's commands signified by both Houses of
Parliament : he plainly told them that if he met the king in
battle, he would fire a pistol in his face as readily as against
any other man. His troop of horse he soon augmented to
a regiment ; and he first instituted that discipline and in-
spired that spirit which rendered the parliamentary armies
in the end victorious. " Your troops," said he to Hambden,
according to his own account,^ " are most of them old de-
cayed serving-men and tapsters, and such kind of fellows ;
the king's forces are composed of gentlemen's younger sons
and persons of good quality. And do you think that the
mean spirits of such base and low fellows as ours will ever
be able to encounter gentlemen that have the honor and
courage and resolution in them? You must get men of
spirit, and take it not ill that I say, of a spirit that is likely
to go as far as gentlemen will go, or else I am sure you will
still be beaten, as you have hitherto been, in every encoun-
ter." He did as he proposed. He enlisted the sons of free-
holders and farmers. He carefully invited into his regiment
all the zealous fanatics throughout England. When they
were collected in a body, their enthusiastic spirit still rose
1 Conference held at WMteliall.
HISTOET OF EKGLAND. 549
to a higher pitch. Their colonel, from his own natural
character as well as from policy, was sufficiently inclinecl to
increase the flame. He preached, he prayed, he fought, he
punished, he rewarded. The wild enthusiasm, together
with valor and discipline, still propagated itself ; and all
men cast their eyes on so pious and so successful a leader.
From low commands he rose with great rapidity to be
really the first, though in apfiearance only the second, in the
army. By fraud and violence he soon rendered himself the
first in the state. In proportion to the increase of his
authority, his talents always seemed to expand themselves ;
and he displayed every day new abilities which had lain dor-
mant till the very emergency by which they were called forth
into action. All Europe stood astonished to see a nation
so turbulent and unruly, who, for some doubtful encroach-
ments on the privileges, had dethroned and murdered an
excellent prince, descended from a long line of monarchs,
now at last subdued and reduced to slavery, by one who, a
few years before, was no better than a private gentleman,
whose name was not known in the nation, and who was
little regarded even in that low sphere to which he had
always been confined.
The indignation entertained by the people against an
authority founded on such manifest usurpation was not, so
violent as might naturally be expected. Congratulatory
addresses, the first of the kind, were made to Cromwell by
the fleet, by the army, even by many of the chief corpora-
tions and counties of England, but especially by the several
congregations of saints dispersed throughout the kingdom.^
The royalists, though they could not love the man who had
imbrued his hands in the blood of their sovereign, expected
more lenity from him than from the jealous and imperious
republicans who had hitherto governed. The Presbyteri-
ans were pleased to see those men by whom they had been
outwitted and expelled now, in their turn, expelled and out-
witted by their own servant ; and they applauded him for
this last act of violence upon the Parliament. These two
parties composed the bulk of the nation, and kept the peo-
ple in some tolerable temper. All men, likewise, harassed
with wars and factions, were glad to see any prospect of
settlement ; and they deemed it less ignominious to submit
to a person of such admirable talents and capacity than to
s See Milton's Stats Papers.
550 HISTOET OF BNaLAND.
a few ignoble, enthusiastic hypocrites who, under the name
of a republic, had reduced them to a cruel subjection.
The republicans, being dethroned by Cromwell, were the
party whose resentment he had the greatest reason to_ ap-
prehend. That party, besides the Independents, contained
two sets of men who are seemingly of the most opposite
principles, but who were then united by a similitude of
genius and of character. The first and most numerous were
the Millenarians, or Fifth-monarchy men, who insisted that,
dominion being founded in grace, all distinction in magis-
tracy must be abolished, except what arose from piety and
holiness ; who expected suddenly the second coming of
Christ upon earth ; and who pretended that the saints in
the meanwhile — that is, themselves — were alone entitled
to govern. The second were the Deists, who had no other
object than political liberty, who denied entirely the truth
of revelation, and insinuated that all the various sects, so
heated against each other, were alike founded in folly and
in error. Men of such daring geniuses were not contented
with the ancient and legal forms of civil government, but
challenged a degree of freedom beyond what they expected
ever to enjoy under any monarchy. Martin, Challoner, Har-
rington, Sidney, Wildman, Nevil, were esteemed the heads
of this small division.
The Deists were perfectly hated by Cromwell, because he
had no hold of enthusiasm by which he could govern or
overreach them ; he therefore treated them with great rigor
and disdain, and usually denominated them the heathens.
As the Millenarians had a great interest in the army, it was
much more important for him to gain their confidence ; and
their size of understanding afforded him great facility in
deceiving them. Of late years it had been so usual a topic
of conversation to discourse of parliaments and councils and
senates, and the soldiers themselves had been so much ac-
customed to enter into that spirit, that Cromwell thought
it requisite to establish something which might bear the face
of a commonwealth. He supposed that God, in his prov-
dence, had thrown the whole right as well as power of gov-
ernment into his hands ; and without any more ceremony,
by the advice of his council of officers, he sent summons to
a hundred and twenty-eight persons of different towns and
counties of England, to five of Scotland, to six of Ireland.
He pretended by his sole act and deed to devolve upon
these the whole authority of the state. This legislative
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 551
power they were to exercise during fifteen months, and they
were afterwards to choose the same number of persons who
might succeed them in that high and important office.
_ There were great numbers at that time who made it a
principle always to adhere to any power which was upper-
most and to support the established government. This
maxim is not peculiar to the people of that age ; but what
may be esteemed peculiar to them is that there prevailed a
hypocritical phrase for expressing so prudential a conduct —
it was called a waiting upon Providence. When Provi-
dence, therefore, was so kind as to bestow on these men,
now assembled together, the supreme authority, they must
have been very ungrateful if, in their turn, they had been
wanting in complaisance towards her. They immediately
voted themselves a Parliament; and, having their own con-
sent as well as that of Oliver Cromwell for their legislative
authority, they now proceeded very gravely to the exercise
of it.
In this notable assembly were some persons of the rank
of gentlemen ; but the far greater part were low mechanics,
Fifth-monarchy men. Anabaptists, Antinomians, Indepen-
dents— the very dregs of the fanatics. They began with
seeking God by prayer. This office was performed by
eight or ten gifted men of the assembly ; and with so much
success that, according to the confession of all, they had
never before, in any of their devotional exercises, enjoyed
so much of the Holy Spirit as was then communicated to
them.* Their hearts were no doubt dilated when they con-
sidered the high dignity to which they supposed themselves
exalted. They had been told by Cromwell, in his first dis-
course, that he never looked to see such a day when Christ
should be so owned.^ They thought it, therefore, their duty
* Parliamentary History, vol. xx. p. 182.
* These are his expressions : "Indeed, I have but one word more to saytoyoiu
though in that perhaps I shall show my weakness : it is by way of encouragement
to you in this work. Give me leave to begin thus : I confess I never looked to
have seen such a day as this — it may be nor you neither — when Jesus Christ
should be so owned as he is at this day and in this work. Jesus Christ is owned
this day by your call, and you own him by your willingness to appear for him,
and you manifest this (as far as poor creatures can do) to be a day of the power
of Christ. I know you will remember that Scripture, * He makes hie people will-
ing in the day of his power.' God manifests it to be the day of the power of
Christ, having through so much blood and so much trial as has been upon this
nation, he makes this one of the greatest mercies, next to his own Son, to have
his people called to the supreme authority. God hath owned his Son, and hath
owned you, and hath made you to own him. I confess I never looked to have
seen such a day ; I did not." I suppose at this passage he cried, for he was very
much given to weeping, and could at anytime shed ab\indance of tears. The
rest of the speech may be seen among Milton's State Papers, p. 106. It is very
curious, and full of the same obscurity, conf'usion, embarrassment, and absurdity
wMch appear in almost all Oliver's productions.
552 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
to proceed to a thorougli reformation, and to pave the ■way
for the reign of the Redeemer, and for that great work which
it was expected the Lord was to bring forth among theni.
All fanatics, being consecrated by their own fond imagi-
nations, naturally bear an antipathy to the ecclesiastics, who
claim a peculiar sanctity derived merely from their office
and priestly character. This Parliament took into consider-
ation the abolition of the clerical function, as savoring of
popery, and the taking away of tithes, which they called a
relic of Judaism. Learning, also, and the universities were
deemed heathenish and unnecessary ; the common law was
denominated a badge of the Conquest and of Norman
slavery ; and they threatened the lawyers with a total abro-
gation of their profession. Some steps were even taken
towards an abolition of the chancery,^ the highest court of
judicature in the kingdom ; and the Mosaical law was in-
tended to be established as the sole system of English juris-
prudence.^
Of all the extraordinary schemes adopted by these legis-
lators, they had not leisure to finish any, except that which
established the legal solemnization of marriage by the civil
magistrate alone, without the interposition of the clergy.
They found themselves exposed to the derision of the public.
Among the fanatics of the House there was an active mem-
ber, much noted for his long prayers, sermons, and ha-
rangues. He was a leather-seller in London ; his name.
Praise- God JBarebone. This ridiculous name, which seems
to have been chosen by some poet or allegorist to suit so
ridiculous a personage, struck the fancy of the people ; and
they commonly affixed to this assembly the appellation of
Barebone's Parliament.'
» Whitloeke, pp. 5M, 548. e Conference held at Whitehall.
' It was usual for the pretended Raints at that time to change their names
from Henry, Edward, Anthony, William, which they retrarded as heathenish,
into others more sanctified and godly ; even the New Testament names James,
Andrew. John. Peter, were not held in such regard as tliose which were bor-
rowed from the Old Testament — Hezekiah, Hahakkuk, Joshua, Zeruhhabel.
Sometimes a whole godly sentence was adopted as a name. Here are the names
of a jury said to be enclosed in the county of Sussex about that time :
Accepted, Trever of Knrsham.
Eedeemed, Compton of Battle.
Paint Not, Hewit of I{eatVifleld.
Make Peace, Heator of Hare.
God Pew.ird, Smart of Fivehnrst.
Standfast on High, Stringer of Cow-
hurst.
Earth, Adams of Warbleton.
Called, Lower of the snme.
Kill Sin, Pimple of Witliam.
Keturn. Spelman of Watling.
Bo Faithful, Joiner of Britling;
Fly Debate, Roberts of the same.
Fight the Good Fight of Faith, White
of Emcr.
More Fruit. Fowler of East Halley.
Hope For, Bending of the same.
Graceful, Harding of Lewes.
Weep Not, Billing of the same.
Meek, Brewer of Okeham.
See Brome's Travels into England, p. 279. "Cromwell," says Cleveland, "hath
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 553
The Dutch ambassadors endeavored to enter into ne-
gotiation with the Parliament ; but, though Protestants, and
even Presbyterians, they met with a bad reception from
those who pretended to a sanctity so much superior. The
Hollanders were regarded as worldly-minded men, intent
only on commerce and industry, whom it was fitting the
saints should first extirpate ere they undertook that great
Vi'ork, to which they believed themselves destined by Provi-
dence, of subduing Antichrist, the man of sin, and extend-
ing to the uttermost bounds of the earth the kingdoni of the
Redeemer.' The ambassadors, finding themselves pro-
scribed, not as enemies of England, but of Christ, remained
in astonishment, and knew not which was most to be ad-
mired, the implacable spirit or egregious folly of these pre-
tended saints.
Cromwell began to be ashamed of his legislature. If he
ever had any design in summoning so preposterous an as-
sembly beyond amusing the populace and the army, he had
intended to alarm the clergy and lawyers; and he had so
far succeeded as to make them desire any other government
which might secure their professions, now brought into
danger by these desperate fanatics. Cromwell himself was
dissatisfied that the Parliament, though they had derived all
their authority from him, began to pretend power from the
Lord,' and to insist already on their divine commission. He
had been careful to summon in his writs several persons en-
tirely devoted to him. By concert, these met early ; and it
was mentioned by some among them that the sitting of this
Parliament any longer would be of no service to the nation.
They hastened, therefore, to Cromwell, along with Rouse,
their speaker ; and by a formal deed, or assignment, re-
stored into his hands that supreme authority which they
had so lately received from him. General Harrison and
about twenty more remained in the House ; and that they
might prevent the reign of the saints from coming to an un-
timely end, they placed one Moyer in the chair, and began
to draw up protests. They were soon interrupted by
Colonel White with a party of soldiers. He asked them
Ibeat up bis drums clean through the Old Testament. Tou may leai-n the gene-
aloCT of our Saviour by the names of his regiment. The muster-master has no
other list than the first chapter of St. Matthew." The brother of this Praise-
Goil Barebone had for name. // CImst had not died, for ynu, yml had been damned,
Barebone. But tlie people, lired of this long name, retained only the last word,
and commonly gave him the appellation of Damned Barebone,
8 Thurloe, vol. i. pp. 273, 591. Also Stubbe, pp. 91, 92.
« Thurloe, vol. i. p. 393.
554' HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
what they did there ? " We are seeking the Lord," said
they. " Then you may go elsewhere," rejjlied he ; " for to
my certain knowledge he has not been here these many
years."
The military, being now in appearance as well as in real-
ity the sole power which prevailed in the nation, Cromwell
thought fit to indulge in a new fancy ; for he seems not to
have had any deliberate plan in all these alterations. Lam-
bert, his creature, who, under the appearance of obsequious-
ness to him, indulged in unbounded ambition, proposed in
a council of ofiicers to adopt another scheme of government,
and to temper the liberty of a commonwealth by the author-
ity of a single person, who should be known by the appella-
tion of protector. Without delay he prepared what was
called the instrument of government, containing the plan of
this new legislature ; and as it was supposed to be agreeable
to the general, it was immediately voted by the council of
ofiicers. Cromwell was declared protector, and with great
solemnity installed in that high office.
So little were these men endowed with the spirit of
legislation that they confessed, or rather boasted, that they
had employed only four days in drawing this instrument,
by which the whole government of three kingdoms was pre-
tended to be regulated and adjusted to all succeeding gen-
erations. There appears no difficulty in believing them,
when it is considered how crude and undigested a system of
civil polity they endeavored to establish. The chief articles
of the instrument are these: a council was appointed, which
was not to exceed twenty-one, nor be less than thirteen,
persons. These were to enjoy their office during life or
good behavior ; and in case of a vacancy, the remaining
members named three, of whom the protector chose one.
The protector was appointed supreme magistrate of the
commonwealth ; in his name was all justice to be adminis-
tered ; from him were all magistracy and honors derived ; he
had the power of pardoning all ci-imes, excepting murder
and treason ; to him the benefit of all forfeitures devolved.
The right of peace, war, and alliance rested in him ; but in
these particulars he was to act by the advice and with the
consent of his council. The power of the sword was vested
in the protector jointly with the Parliament while it was
sitting, or with the council of state in the intervals. He
was obliged to summon a Paiiiament every three years, and
allow them to sit five months without adjournment, proroga-
HISTOKY OF ENGLAND. 555
tion, or dissolution. The bills which they passed were to
be presented to the protector for his assent ; but if within
twenty days it were not obtained, they were to become
laws by the authority alone of Parliament. A standing
army for Great Britain and Ireland was established, of
twenty thousand foot and ten thousand horse ; and funds
were assigned for their support. These were not to be
diminished without the consent of the protector, and in this
article alone he assumed a negative. During the intervals
of Parliament, the protector and council had the power of
enacting laws, which were to be valid till the next meeting
of Parliament. The oliancellor, treasurer, admiral, chief
governors of Ireland and Scotland, and the chief-justices of
both the benches, must be chosen with the approbation of
Parliament ; and, in the intervals, with the approbation of
the council, to be afterwards ratified by Parliament. The
protector was to enjoy his office during life, and on his
death the place was immediately to be supplied by the
council. This was the instrument of government enacted
by the council of officers, and solemnly sworn to by Oliver
Cromwell. The council of state, named by the instrument,
were fifteen men entirely devoted to the protector, and, by
reason of the opposition among themselves in party and
principles, not likely ever to combine against hira.
Cromwell said that he accepted the dignity of protector
merely that he might exert the duty of a constable, and pre-
serve peace in the nation. Affairs, indeed, were brought to
that pass by the furious animosities of the several factions
that the extensive authority, and even arbitrary power, of
some first magistrate was become a necessary evil, in order
to keep the people from relapsing into blood and confusion.
The Independents were too small a party ever to establish
a popular government, or intrust the nation, where they had
so little interest, with the free choice of its representatives.
The Presbyterians had adopted the violent maxims of per-
secution, incompatible at all times with the peace of society,
niuch more with the wild zeal of those numerous sects
which prevailed among the people. The royalists were so
much enraged by the injuries which they had suffered that
the other prevailing parties would never submit to them,
who, they knew, were enabled, merely by the execution of
the ancient laws, to take severe vengeance upon them. Had
Cromwell been guilty of no crime but this temporary usur-t
pation, the plea of necessity and public good, which, he
556 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
alleged, might be allowed in every view a reasonable ex-
cuse for his conduct.
During the variety of ridiculous and distracted scenes
which the civil government exhibited in England, the mili-
tary force was exerted with vigor, conduct, and unanimity;
and never did the kingdom appear more formidable to all
foreign nations. The English fleet, consisting of a hundred
sail, and commanded by Monk and Dean, and under them
by Pen and Lawson, met near the coast of Flanders with
the Dutch fleet, equally numerous, and commanded by
Tromp. The two republics were not inflamed by any
national antipathy, and their interests very little interfered,;
yet few battles have been disputed with more fierce and ob-
stinate courage than were those many naval combats which
were fought during this short but violent war. The desire
of remaining sole lords of the ocean animated these states
to an honorable emulation against each other. After a
battle of two days, in the first of which Dean was killed, the
Dutch, inferior in the size of their ships, were obliged, with
great loss, to retire into their harbors. Blake, towards the
end of the fight, joined his countrymen with eighteen sail.
The English fleet lay off the coast of Holland, and totally
interrupted the commerce of that republic.
The ambassadors whom the Dutch had sent over to Eng-
land gave them hopes of peace. But as they could obtain
no cessation of hostilities, the States, unwilling to suffer
any longer the loss and dishonor of being blockaded by the
enemy, made the utmost efforts to recover their injured
honor. Never on any occasion did tlie power and vigor of
that republic appear in a more conspicuous light. In a few
weeks they had repaired and manned their fleet, and they
equipped some ships of a larger size than any which they
had hitherto sent to sea. Tromp issued out, determined
again to fight the victors, and to die rather than to yield the
contest. He met with the enemy, commanded by Monk,
and both sides immediately rushed into the combat. Tromp,
gallantly animating his men with his sword drawn, was shot
through the heart with a musket-ball. This event alone
decided the battle in favor of the English. Though near
thirty ships of the Dutch were sunk and taken, they little
regarded this loss compared with that of their brave admiral.
Meanwhile the negotiations for peace were continually
advancing. The States, overwhelmed with the expense of
the war, terrified by their losses, and mortified by their de-
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 557
feats, was extremely desirous of an accommodation with an
enemy whom they found by experience too powerful for
them. The king having shown an inclination to serve on
board their fleet, though they expressed their sense of the
honor intended them, they declined an offer which might
inflame the quarrel with the English commonwealth. The
great obstacle to the peace was found not to be any ani-
mosity on the part of the English, but, on the contrary, a
desire too earnest of union and confederacy. Cromwell
had revived the chimerical scheme of a coalition with the
United Provinces — a total conjunction of government, priv-
ileges, interests, and counsels. [1654.] This project ap-
peared so wild to the States that they wondered any man
of sense could ever entertaili it, and they refused to enter
into conferences with regard to a proposal which could
serve only to delay any practicable scheme of accom-
modation. The peace was at last signed by Cromwell, now
invested with the dignity of protector ; and it proves suffi-
ciently that the war had been impolitic, since, after the
most signal victories, no terms more advantageous could be
obtained.' A defensive league was made between the two
republics. They agreed each of them to banish the enemies
of the other ; those who had been concerned in the massacre
of Amboyna were to be punished, if any remained alive ;
the honor of the flag was yielded to the English ; eighty-five
thousand pounds were stipulated to be paid by the Dutch
East India Company for losses which the English Company
bad sustained ; and the island of Polerone, in the East Indies,
was promised to be ceded to the latter.
Cromwell, jealous of the connections between the royal
family and that of Orange, insisted on a separate article
that neither the young prince nor any of his family should
ever be invested with the dignity of stadtholder. The
province of Holland, strongly prejudiced against that ofBce,
which they esteemed dangerous to liberty, secretly ratified
this article. The protector, knowing that the other prov-
inces would not be induced to make such a concession, was
satisfied with this security.
The Dutch war being successful, and the peace reason-
able, brought credit to Cromwell's administration. An act
of justice, which he exercised at home, gave likewise satis-
faction to the people, though the regulsirity of it may per-
haps appear somewhat doubtful. Don Pantaleon Sa, brother
to the Portuguese ambassador, and joined with him in the
558 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
same commission,*'' fancying himself to be insulted, came
upon the Exchange, armed and attended by several serv-
ants. By mistake, he fell on a gentleman whom he took for
the person that had given him the offence; and having
butchered him with many wounds, he and all his attendants
took shelter in the house of the Portuguese ambassador, who
had connived at this base enterprise." The populace sur-
rounded the house, and threatened to set fire .to it. Crom-
well sent a guard, who seized all the criminals. They were
brought to trial ; and, notwithstanding the opposition of
the ambassador, who pleaded the privileges of his office,
Don Pantaleon was executed on Tower Hill. The laws of
nations were here plainly violated ; but the crime committed
by the Portuguese gentleman was, to the last degree, atro-
cious ; and the vigorous chastisement of it, suiting so well
to the undaunted character of Cromwell, was universally
approved of at home and admired among foreign nations.
The situation of Portugal obliged that court to acquiesce ;
and the ambassador soon after signed with the protector a
treaty of peace and alliance, which was very advantageous
to the English commerce.
Another act of severity, but necessary in his situation,
was at the very same time exercised by the protector in the
capital punishment of Gerard and Vowel, two royalists, who
were accused of conspii-ing against his life. He had erected
a high court of justice for their trial — an infringement of
the ancient laws which at this time was become familiar,
but one to which no custom or precedent could reconcile
the nation. Juries were found altogether unmanageable.
The restless Lilburn, for new offences, had been brought to
a new trial, and had been acquitted with new triumph and
exultation. If no other method of conviction had been
devised during this illegal and unjsopular government, all
its enemies were assured of entire impunity.
The protector had occasion to observe the prejudices
entertained against his government by the disposition of the
Parliament, which he summoned on the 3d of September,
that day of the year on which he gained his two great vic-
tories of Dunbar and Worcester, and which he always
regarded as fortunate for him. It must be confessed that,
if we are left to gather Cromwell's intentions from his in-
strument of government, it is such a motley piece that we
cannot easily conjecture whether he seriously meant to-
10 Thurloe, vol. li. p. 429. n Thurloe, vol. 1. p. 616.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 559
establish a tyranny or a republic. On one hand, a first mag-
istrate, in so extensive a government, seemed necessary both
for the dignity and tranquillity of the state; and the author-
ity which he assumed as protector was in some respects
inferior to the prerogatives which the laws intrusted, and
still intrust, to the king. On the other hand, the legislative
power which he reserved to himself and council, together
with so great an army, independent of the Parliament, were
bad prognostics of his intention to submit to a civil and
legal constitution. But if this were not his intention, the
method in which he distributed and conducted the elections,
being so favorable to liberty, forms an inconsistency which
is not easily accounted for. He deprived of their right of
election all the small boroughs — places the most exposed to
influence and corruption. Of four hundred members which
represented England, two hundred and seventy wero chosen
by the counties ; the rest were elected by. London and the
more considerable corporations. The lower populace too,
so easily guided or deceived, were excluded from the elec-
tions : an estate of two hundred pounds' value was neces-
sary to entitle any one to a vote. The elections of this Par-
liament were conducted with perfect freedom ; and, except-
ing that such of the royalists as had borne arms against the
Parliament and all their sons were excluded, a more fair
representation of the people could not be desired or ex-
pected. Thirty members were returned from Scotland ; as
many from Ireland.
The protector seems to have been disappointed when he
found that all these precautions, which were probably noth-
ing but covers to his ambition, had not procured him the
confidence of the public. Though Cromwell's administra-
tion was less odious to every party than that of any other
party, yet was it entirely acceptable to none. The royalists
had been instructed by the king to remain quiet, and to
cover themselves under the appearance of republicans ; and
they found in this latter faction such inveterate hatred
against the protector that they could not wish for more zeal-
ous adversaries to his authority. It was maintained by
them that the pretence of liberty and a popular election was
but a new artifice of this great deceiver, in order to lay
asleep the deluded nation, and give himself leisure to rivet
their chains more securely upon them ; that in the instru-
ment of government he openly declared his intention of still
retaining the same mercenary army by whose assistance he
560 HISTOET OP ENGLAITD.
had subdued the ancient established government, and who
would with less scruple obey him in overturning, whenever
he should please to order them, that new system which he
himself had been pleased to model ; that, being sensible of
the danger and uncertainty of all military government, he
endeavored to intermix some appearance, and but an ap-
pearance, of civil administration, and to balance the army
by a seeming consent of the people ; that the absurd trial
■which he had made of a Parliament elected by himself, ap-
pointed perpetually to elect their successors, plainly proved
that he aimed at nothing but temporary exj)edientR, was
totally averse to a free republican government, and pos-
sessed not that nature and deliberate reflection which could
qualify him to act the part of a legislator ; that his imperious
character, which had betrayed itself in so many incidents,
could never seriously submit to legal limitations, nor would
the very image of popular government be longer upheld
than while conformable to his arbitrary will and pleasure ;
and that the best policy was to oblige him to take off the
mask at once, and either submit entirely to that Parliament
which he had summoned, or, by totally rejecting its author-
ity, leave himself no resource but in his seditious and en-
thusiastic army.
In prosecution of these views, the Parliament, having
heard the protector's speech, three hours long,i^ and having
chosen Lenthal for their speaker, immediately entered into
a discussion of the pretended instrument of government,
and of that authority which Cromwell, by the title of pro-
tector, had assumed over the nation. The greatest liberty
was used in arraigning this new dignity ; and even the per-
sonal character and conduct of Cromwell escaped not with-
out censure. The utmost that could be obtained by the
officers and by the court party, for so they were called, was
to protract the debate by arguments and long speeches, and
prevent the decision of a question which, they were sensi-
ble, would be carried against thorn by a great majority.
The protector, surprised and enraged at this refractory spirit
in the Parliament, which, however, he had so much reason
to expect, sent for them to the painted chamber, and with
an air of great authority inveighed against their conduct.
He told them that nothing could be more absurd than for
them to dis{)ute his title ; since the same instrument of gov-
ernment which made them a Parliament had invested him
» Thurloe, vol. ii. p. 588.
HISTORY 01" ENGLAND, 561
with the protectorship ; that some points in the new consti-
tution were supposed to be fundamentals, and were not, on
any pretence, to be altered or disputed ; that among these
were the government of the nation by a single person and
a Parliament, their joint authority over the army and mili-
tia, the succession of_ new parliaments, and liberty of eon-
science ; and that, with regard to these particulars, there
was reserved to him a negative voice, to which, in the other
circumstances of government, he confessed himself nowise
entitled.
The protector now found the necessity of exacting a se-
curity which, had he foreseen the spirit of the House, he
would with better grace have required at their first meeting.''
He obliged the members to sign a recognition of his author-
ity, and an engagement not to propose or consent to any
alteration in the government, as it was settled in a single
person and a Parliament ; and he placed guards at the door
of the House, who allowed none but subscribers to enter.
Most of the members, after some hesitation, submitted to
this condition, but retained the same refractory spirit which
they had discovered in their first debates. The instrument
of government was taken in pieces, and examined, article by
article, with the most scrupulous accuracy ; very free topics
were advanced with the general approbation of the House ;
and, during the whole course of their proceedings, they nei-
ther sent up one bill to the protector, nor took any notice of
him. Being informed that conspiracies were entered into
between the members and some malcontent officers, he
hastened to the dissolution of so dangerous an assembly.
[1655.] By the instrument of government to which he had
sworn, no Parliament could be dissolved till it had sat five
months ; but Cromwell pretended that a month contained
only twenty-eight days, according to the method of compu-
tation practised in paying the fleet and army. The full time,
therefore, according to this reckoning, being elapsed, the
Parliament was ordered to attend the protector, who made 1
them a tedious, confused, angry harangue, and dismissed
them. Were we to judge of Cromwell's capacity by this,
and indeed by all his other compositions, we should be apt
to entertain no very favorable idea of it. But in the great
variety of human geniuses, there are some which, though
they see their object clearly and distinctly in general, yet,
when they come to unfold its parts by discourse or writing,
" Tlinrloe, vol. ji. p. 620.
Vlo. IV.— 36
562 HISTOET OF ENGLANB.
lose that luminous conception which they had before at-
tained. All accounts agi'ee in ascribing to Cromwell a tire-
some, dark, unintelligible elocution, even when he had no
intention to disguise his meaning ; yet no man's actions were
ever, in such a variety of difficult incidents, more decisive
and judicious.
The electing of a discontented Parliament is a proof of
a discontented nation ; the angry and abrupt dissolution of
that Parliament is always sure to increase the general dis-
content. The members of this assembly, returning to their
counties, propagated that spirit of mutiny which they had
exerted in the House. Sir Harry Vane and the old repub-
licans, who maintained the indissoluble authority of tl\e
Long Parliament, encouraged the murmurs against the pres-
ent usurpation, though they acted so cautiously as to give
the protector no handle against them. Wildman and some
others of that party carried still further their conspiracies
against the protector's authority. The royalists, observing
this general ill-will towards tlie establishment, could no lon-
ger be retained in subjection, but fancied that every one who
was dissatisfied lilce them had also embraced the same views
and inclinations. They did not consider that the old parlia-
mentary party, though many of thera were displeased with
Cromwell, who had dispossessed them of their power, were
still more apprehensive of any success to the royal cause ;
w^hence, besides a certain prospect of the same consequence,
they had so much reason to dread the severest vengeance
for their past transgressions.
In concert with the king, a conspiracy was entered into
by the royalists throughout England, and a day of general
rising appointed. Information of this design was conveyed
to Cromwell. The protector's administration was extremely
vigilant. Thurloe, his secretary, had spies everywhere.
Manning, who had access to the king's family, kept a regular
correspondence with him. And it was not difficult to obtain
intelligence of a confederacy so generally diffused among a
party who valued themselves more on zeal and courage than
on secrecy and sobriety. Many of the royalists were thrown
into f)rison. Others, on the approach of the day, were ter-
rified with the danger of the undertaking and remained at
home. In one place alone the conspiracy broke into action.
Penruddoc, Groves, Jones, and other gentlemen of the west
entered Salisbury with about two hundred horse, at the very
time when the sheriff and judges were holding the assizes.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 563
These they made prisoners, and they proclaimed the king.
Contrary to their expectations, they received no accession
of foi'ce, so prevalent was the terror of the established gov-
ernment. Having in vain wandered about for some time,
they were totally discouraged ; and one troop of horse was
able at last to suppress them. The leaders of the conspiracy,
being taken prisoners, were capitally punished. The rest
were sold for slaves, and transported to Barbadoes.
The easy subduing of this insurrection, which, by the
boldness of the undertaking, struck at first a great terror
into the nation, was a singular felicity to the protector, who
could not, without danger, have brought together any con-
siderable body of his mutinous army, in order to suppress it.
The very insurrection itself he regarded as a fortunate event,
since it proved the reality of those conspiracies which his-
enemies, on every occasion, represented as mere fictions, in-
vented to color his tyrannical severities. He resolved to
keep no longer any terms with the royalists, who, though ^
they were not perhaps the most implacable of his enemies,
were those whom he could oppress under the most plausible
pretences, and who met with least countenance and protec-
tion from his adherents. He issued an edict, with the con-
sent of his council, for exacting the tenth penny from that
whole party, in order, as he pretended, to make them pay
the expenses to which their mutinous disposition continually
exposed the public. Without regard to compositions, arti-
cles of capitulation, or acts of indemnity, all tlie royalists,
however harassed with former oppressions, were obliged
anew to redeem themselves by great sums of money ; and
many of them were reduced by these multiplied disasters to
extreme poverty. Whoever was known to be disaffected,
or even lay under any suspicion, though no guilt could be
proved against him, was exposed to the new exaction.
In order to raise this imposition, which commonly passed
by the name of decimation, the protector instituted twelve
major-generals, and divided the whole kingdom of England
into so many military jurisdictions." These men, assisted
by commissioners, had power to subject whom they pleased
to decimation, to levy all the taxes imposed by the protector
and his council, and to imprison any person who should be
exposed to their jealousy or suspicion ; nor was there any
appeal from them but to the protector himself and his coun-
cil. Under color of these powers, which were sufficiently
" Parliamentary History, vol. xx. p. 433.
564 HISTOEY OF ENGLAND.
exorbitant, the major-generals exercised an authority still
more arbitrary, and acted as if absolute masters of the prop-
erty and person of every subject. All reasonable men now
concluded that the very mask of liberty was thrown aside,
and that the nation was forever subjected to military and
despotic government, exercised not in the legal manner of
European nations, but according to the maxims of Eastern
tyranny. Not only the supreme magistrate owed his au-
thority to illegal force and usurpation; he had parcelled out
the people into so many subdivisions of slavery, and had
delegated to his inferior ministers the same unlimited au-
thority which he himself had so violently assunied.
A government totally military and despotic is almost
sure, after some time, to fall into impotence and languor;
but when it immediately succeeds a legal constitution, it
may, at first, to foreign nations, appear very vigorous and
active, and may exert with more unanimity that power,
spirit, and riches which had been acquired under a better
form. It seems now proper, after so long an interval, to
look abroad to the general state of Europe, and to consider
the measures which England at this time embraced in its
negotiations with the neighboring princes. The moderate
temper and unwarlike genius of the two last princes, the
extreme difiiculties under which they labored at home, and
the great security which they enjoyed from foreign enemies,
bad rendered them negligent of the transactions on the
Continent ; and England, during their reigns, had been in a
manner overlooked in the general system of Europe. The
bold and restless genius of the protector led him to extend
his alliances and enterprises to every part of Christendom ;
and, partly from the ascendant of his magnanimous spirit,
partly from the situation of foreign kingdoms, the weight of
England, even under its most legal and bravest princes, was
never more sensibly felt than during this unjust and violent
usurpation.
A war of thirty years, the most signal and most de-
structive that had appeared in modern annals, was at last
finished in Germany ; ^^ and by the, treaty of Westphalia
were composed those fatal quarrels which had been excited
by the Palatine's precipitate acceptance of the crown of
Bohemia. The young Palatine was restored to part of his
dignities and of his dominions.^^ The rights, privilegeSj
IB In 1648.
1" This prince, during the civil wars, had much neglected his uncle, and paid
court to the Parliament. He accepted of a pension of eight thousand pounds a
year from them, and took a place in their assembly of dlrlDea.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 565
and authority of the several menjbers of the Germanic body
were fixed and ascertained ; sovereign princes and free
states were in some degree reduced to obedience under laws ;
and by the valor of the heroic Gustavus, the enterprises of
the active Richelieu, the intrigues of the artful Mazarine,
was in part effected, after an infinite expense of blood and
treasure, what had been fondly expected and loudly
demanded from the feeble efforts of the pacific James,
seconded by the scanty suiDplies of his jealous parliaments.
Sweden, which had acquired by conquest large domin-
ions in the north of Germany, was engaged in enterprises
which promised her, from her success and valor, still more
extensive acquisitions on the side both of Poland and of
Denmark. Charles X., who had mounted the throne of that
kingdom after the voluntary resignation of Christina, being
stimujated by the fame of Gustavus, as well as by his own
martial disposition, carried his conquering arms to the south
of the Baltic, and gained the celebrated battle of Warsaw,
which had been obstinately disputed during the space of
three days. The protector, at the time his alliance was
courted by every power in Europe, anxiously courted the
alliance of Sweden ; and he was fond of forming a confede-
racy with a Protestant power of such renown, even though
it threatened the whole North with conquest and subjection.
The transactions of the Parliament and protector with
France had been various and complicated. The emissaries
of Richelieu had furnished fuel to the flame of rebellion
when it first broke out in Scotland ; but after the conflagra-
tion had diffused itself, the French court, observing tlie
materials to be of themselves suflSciently combustible, found
it unnecessary any longer to animate the British malcontents
to an opposition of their sovereign. On the contrary, they
offered their mediation for composing these intestine dis-
orders ; and their ambassadors, from decency, pretended to
act in concert with the court of England, and to receive
directions from a prince with whom their master was con-
nected by so near an affinity. Meanwhile, Richelieu died ;
and soon after him the French king, Louis XIII., leaving his
son, an infant four years old, and his widow, Anne of Aus-
tria, regent of the kingdom. Cardinal Mazarine succeeded
Richelieu in the ministry; and the same plans of general
policy, though by men of such opposite characters, was still
continued in the French councils. The establishment of
royal authority, the reduction of the Austrian family, were
566 HiSTOEY or England.
pursued with ardor and success ; and every year brought an
accession of force and grandeur to the French monarchy.
Not only battles were won, towns and fortresses taken ; the
genius too of the nation seemed gradually to improve, and
to compose itself to the spirit of dutiful obedience and of
steady enterprise. A Conde, a Turenne, were formed ; and
the troops, animated by their valor and guided by their
discipline, acquired every day a greater ascendant over the
Spaniards. All of a sudden, from some intrigues of the
court and some discontents in the courts of judicature,
intestine commotions were excited, and everything relapsed
into confusion. But these rebellions of the French, neither
ennobled by the spirit of liberty nor disgraced by the
fanatical extravagances which distinguished the British
civil wars, were conducted with little bloodshed, and made
but a small impression on the minds of the people. Though
seconded by the force of Spain and conducted by the Prince
of Conde, the malcontents, in a little time, were either ex-
pelled or subdued ; and the French monarchy, having lost
a few of its conquests, returned with fresh vigor to the
acquisition of new dominion.
The Queen of England and her son Charles, during these
commotions, passed most of their time at Paris, and, notwith-
standing their near connection of blood, received but few
civilities, and still less support, from the French court. Had
the queen-regent been ever so much inclined to assist the
English prince, the disorders of her own affairs would for a
long time have rendered such intentions impracticable. The
banished queen had a moderate pension assigned her ; but
it was so ill paid, and her credit ran so low, that one morn-
ing when the Cardinal de Retz waited on her, she informed
him that her daughter, the Princess Henriettn, was obliged
to lie a-bed for want of a fire to warm her. To such a con-
dition was reduced, in the midst of Paris, a queen of Eng-
land, and daughter of Henry IV. of Prance.
The English Parliament, however, having assumed the
sovereignty of the state, resented tlie countenance, cold as
it was, which the French court gave to the unfortunate
monarch. On pretence of injuries, of which the English
merchants complained, they issued letters of reprisal upon
the French, and Blake went so far as to attack and seize the
whole squadron of ships which were carrying supplies to
Dunkirk, then closely besieged by the Spaniards. That
town, disappointed of these supplies, fell into the hands of
HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 567
the enemy. The French ministry soon found it necessary
to change their measures. They treated Charles with such
affected indifference that he thought it more decent to with-
draw, and prevent the indignity of being desii-ed to leave
the kingdom. He went first to Spa, thence he retired to
Cologne, where he lived two years on a small pension (about
six thousand pounds a year), paid him by the court of France,
and on some contributions sent him by his friends in Eng-
land. In the management of his family he discovered a
disposition to order and economy ; and his temper, cheerful,
careless, and sociable, was more than a sufficient compensa-
tion for that empire of which his enemies had bereaved him.
Sir EdwardJHyde, created lord chancellor, and the Marquis
of Ormond were his chief friends and confidants.
If the French ministry had thought it prudent to bend
under the English Parliament, they deemed it still more
necessary to pay deference to the protector when he assumed
the reins of government. Cardinal Mazarine, by whom all
the councils of France were directed, was artful and vigilant,
supple and patient, false and intriguing ; desirous rather to
prevail by dexterity than violence, and placing his honor
more in the final success of his measures than in the splendor
and magnanimity of the means which he employed. Crom-
well, by his imperious character, rather than by the ad-
vantage of his situation, acquired an ascendant over this
man, and every proposal made by the protector, however
unreasonable in itself, and urged with whatever insolence,
met with a ready compliance from the politic and timid
cardinal. Bourdeaux was sent over to England as minister ;
and all circumstances of respect were paid to the daring
usurper who had imbrued his hands in the blood of a
sovereign, a prince so nearly related to the royal family of
France. With indefatigable patience did Bourdeaux con-
duct this negotiation, which Cromwell seemed entirely to
neglect ; and though privateers with English commissions
cornmitted daily depredations on the French commerce.
Mazarine was content, in hopes of a fortunate issue, still to
submit to these indignities."
The court of Spain, less connected with the unfortunate
royal family, and reduced to greater distress than the
French monarchy, had been still more forward in her
" Tliurloe, vol. ili. pp. 103, 619, 653. In the treaty, which was signed after
long negotiation, the protector's name was inserted before the French liing's in
that copy which remained in England.— Thurloe, vol. vi. p. 116. See further
vol. vii. p. 1T8.
568 HISTOET OF BN'GLA.IS'D.
advances to the prosperous Parliament and protector. Don
Alonzo de Cardenas, the Spanish envoy, was the first public
minister who recognized the authority of the new republic ;
and in return for this civility Ascham was sent envoy into
Spain by the Parliament. No sooner had this minister
arrived at Madrid than some of the banished royalists,
inflamed by that inveterate hatred which animated the
English factions, broke into his chamber and murdered him,
together with his secretary. Immediately they took sanc-
tuary in the churches, and, assisted by the general favor
which everywhere attended the royal cause, were enabled,
most of them, to make their escape. Only one of tlie
criminals suffered death, and the Parliament seemed to rest
satisfied with this atonement.
Spain at this time, assailed everywhere by vigorous ene-
mies from without, and laboring under many internal dis-
orders, retained nothing of her former grandeur except the
haughty pride of her counsels and the hatred and jealousy of
her neighbors. Portugal had rebelled, and established her
monarchy in the house of Braganza ; Catalonia, complaining
of violated privileges, had revolted to Prance ; Naples was
shaken with popular convulsions ; the Low Countries were
invaded with superior forces and seemed ready to change
their master ; the Spanish infantry, anciently so formidable,
had been annihilated by Conde in the fields of Rocroy ; and
though the same prince, banished France, sustained" by his
activity and valor the falling fortunes of Spain, he could
only hope to protract, not prevent, the ruin with which that
monarchy was visibly threatened.
Had Cromwell understood and regarded the interests of
his country, he would have supported the declining condi-
tion of Spain against the dangerous ambition of France, and
preserved that balance of power on which the greatness and
security of England so much depend. Had he studied
only his own interests, he would have maintained an exact
neutrality between those great monarchies ; nor would he
have hazarded his ill-acquired and unsettled power by pro-
voking foreign enemies, who might lend assistance to do-
mestic faction and overturn his tottering throne. But his
magnanimity undervalued danger ; his active disposition
and avidity of extensive glory made him incapable of ]-e-
pose, and as the policy of men is continually warped by
their temper, no sooner was peace made with Holland than
he began to deliberate what new enemy he should invade
with his victorious arms.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 569
The extensive empire and yet extreme weakness of Spain
in the West Indies, the vigorous courage and great naval
power of England, were circumstances whioh, when com-
pared, excited the ambition of the enterprising protector, and
made him hope that he might by some gainful conquest ren-
der forever illustrious that dominion w-liich he had assumed
over his country. Should he fail in these durable acquisi-
tions, the Indian treasures, which must every year cross
the ocean to reach Spain, were, he thought, a sure prey to
the English navy, and would support his military force
without his laying new burdens on the discontented people.
From France a vigorous resistance must be expected; no
plunder, no conquests, could be hoped for ; the progress of
his arms, even attended with success, must there be slow
and gradual, and the advantages acquired, however real,
would be less striking to the multitude, whom it was his
interest to allure. The royal family, so closely connected
with the French monarch, might receive great assistance
from that neighboring kingdom, and an ai'my of French
Protestants, landed in England, would be able, he dreaded,
to unite the most opposite factions against the present
usurpation."
These motives of policy were probably seconded by his
bigoted prejudices, as no human mind ever contained so
strange a mixture of sagacity and absurdity as that of this
extraordinary personage. The Swedish alliance, though
much contrary to the interests of England, he had contracted
merely from his zeal for Protestantism,^" and Sweden, being
closely connected with France, he could not hope to main-
tain that confederacy in which he so much prided himself
should a rupture ensue between England and this latter
kingdom.^" The Huguenots, he expected, would meet with
better treatment, while he engaged in a close union with
their sovereign.''' And as the Spaniards were much more
papists than the French, were much more exposed to the
old puritanical hatred,^^ and had even erected the bloody
tribunal of the Inquisition, whose rigors they had refused
to mitigate on Cromwell's solicitation,^^ he hoped that a
w See the account of the negotiations with France and Spain hy Thurloe,
Tol. i. p. 759.
1^ He proposed to Sweden a general league and confederacy of all the Prot-
estants.—Whitlocke, p. 620. Thurloe, vol. vii. 5. 1. In order to judge of the
maxims by which he conducted his foreign polilics, see further Thurloe, vol. iv.
p. 295, 3i3, 443 ; vol. vii. p. 174.
20 Thurloe, vol. i. p. 759. 21 iMd. 22 Jbld.
» Ibid. Don Alonzo said that the Indian trade and the Inquisition were hia
master's two eyes, and the protector Insisted upon the putting out both of them
at once.
570 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
holy and meritorious war with such idolaters could not fail
of protection from Heaven.^ A preacher likewise, inspired,
as was supposed, by- a prophetic spirit, bade him "go and
prosper ; " calling him " a stone cut out of the mountains
without hands, that would break the pride of the Spaniard,
crush Antichrist, and make way for the purity of the Gospel
over the whole world." ^
Actuated equally by these bigoted, these ambitious, and
these interested motives, the protector equipped two con-
siderable squadrons ; and while he was making those prep-
arations, the neighboring states, ignorant of his intentions,
remained in suspense, and looked with anxious expectation
on what side the storm should discharge itself. One of
these squadrons, consisting of thirty capital ships, was sent
into the Mediterranean under Blake, whose fame was now
spread over Europe. No English fleet, except during the
Crusades, had ever before sailed in those seas, and from one
extremity to the other there was no naval force. Christian
or Mahometan, able to resist them. The Roman pontiff,
whose weakness and whose pride equally provoked attacks,
dreaded invasion from a power which professed the
most inveterate enmity against him, and which so little reg-
ulated its movements by the usual motives of interest and
prudence. Blake, casting anchor before Leghorn, demanded
and obtained from the Duke of Tuscany reparation for
some losses which the English commerce had formei-ly sus-
tained from him. He next sailed to Algiers, and compelled
the dey to make peace, and to restrain his piratical subjects
from further violences on the English. He presente4 him-
self before Tunis, and having there made the same demands,
the dey of that republic bade him look to the castles of
Porto Farino and Goletta, and do his utmost. Blake needed
not to be roused by such a bravado ; he drew his ships close
up to the castles, and tore them in pieces with his artillery.
He sent a numerous detachment of sailors in their long
boats into the harbor, and burned every ship which lay
there. This bold action, which its very temerity, perhaps,
rendered safe, was executed with little loss, and filled all
that part of the world with the renown of English valor.
The other squadron was not equally successful. It was
commanded by Pen, and carried on board four thousand men,
under the command of Venables. About five thousand
more joined them from Barbadoes and St. Christopher's.
» Carrington, p. 191. 25 Bates.
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 571
Both these officers were inclined to the king's service,"* and
it is pretended that Cromwell was obliged to hurry the
soldiers on board, in order to prevent the execution of a
conspiracy which had been formed among them in favoi- of
the exiled family." The ill success of this enterprise may
justly be ascribed as much to the injudicious schetses of the
protector, who planned it, as to the bad execution of the
officers by whom it was conducte-l. The soldiei-s were the
refuse of the whole army ; the forces enlisted in the West
Indies were the most profligate of mankind ; Pen and Ven-
ables were of incompatible tempers ; the troops were not
furnished with arms fit for such an expedition ; their pro-
visions were defective both in quantity and quality; all
hopes of pillage, the best incentive to valor among such
men, were refused the soldiers and seamen ; no directions
or intelligence were given to conduct the officers in their
enterprise ; and at the same time they were tied down to
follow the advice of commissioners who disconcerted them in
all their projects.^*
It was agreed by the admiral and general to attempt St.
Domingo, the only place of strength in the island of Hispan-
iola. On the approach of the English, the Sp.iniards, in a
fright, deserted their houses, and fled into the woods. Con-
trary to the opinion of Venables, the soldiers were disem-
barked without guides, ten leagues distant from the town.
They wandered four days through the woods without pro-
visions, and, what was still more intolerable in that sultry
clima'-^, without water. The Spaniards recovered spirit,
and attacked them. The English, discouraged with the bad
conduct of their officers, and scarcely alive from hunger,
thirst, and fatigue, were unable to resist. An inconsider-
able number of the enemy put the whole army to rout,
killed six hundred of them, and chased the rest on board
their vessels.
The English commanders, in order to atone as much as
possible for this unprosperous attempt, bent their course to
Jamaica, which was surrendered to them without a blow.
Pen and Venables returned to England, and were both of
them sent to the Tower by the protector, who, though com-
monly master of his fiery temper, was thrown into a violent
passion at this disappointment. He had made a conquest
26 Clarendon. " Vita D. Berwici, p. 124.
28 Buicliet's Naval History. See also Carte's Collection, toI. ii. pp. 46, 47.
Thurloe, vol. iii. p. 606.
572 HISTORY OF BNGLAOT).
of greater importance than he was himself at that time
aware of ; yet was it much inferior to the vast projects which
he had formed. He gave orders, however, to support it by
men and money; and that island has ever since remained in
the hands of the English, the chief acquisition which they
owe to the enterprising spirit of Cromwell.
[1656.] As soon as the news of this expedition, which
was an unwarrantable violation of treaty, arrived in Europe,
the Spaniards declared war against England, and seized all
the ships and goods of English merchants of which they
could make themselves masters. The commerce with Spain,
so profitable to the English, was cut off ; and near fifteen
hundred vessels, it is computed,^' fell in a few years into the
hands of the enemy. Blake, to whom Montague was now
joined in command, after receiving new orders, prepared
himself for hostilities against the Spaniards.
Several sea officers, having entertained scruples of con-
science with regard to the justice of the Spanish war, threw
up their commissions and i-etired.^" No commands, they
thought, of their superiors could justify a war which was
contrary to the principles of natural equity, and which the
civil magistrate had no right to order. Individuals, they
maintained, in resigning to the public their natural liberty,
could bestow on it only what they themselves were pos-
sessed of, a right of performing lawful actions, and could
invest it with no authority of commanding what is contrary
to the decrees of Heaven. Such maxims, though they seem
reasonable, are perhaps too perfect for human nature, and
must be regarded as one effect — though of the most inno-
cent and even honorable kind— of that spirit, partly fanat-
ical, partly republican, which predominated in England.
Blake lay some time off Cadiz in expectation of inter-
cepting the Plate fleet, but was at last obliged, for want of
water, to make sail towards Portugal. Captain Stayner,
Avhom he had left on the coast with a squadron of seven ves-
sels, came in sight of the galle-ns, and immediately set sail
to pur ae them. The Spanish dmiral ran his ship ashore ;
two others followed his example ; the English took two ships
valued at near two millions of pieces of eight. Two galle-
ons were set on fire; and the Marquis of Badajoz, Viceroy
of Peru, with his wife, and his daughter (betrothed to the
young Duke of Medina Celi), were destroyed in thei^i. The
M Thurloe, vol. iv. p. 135. World's Mistalte in Oliver Cromwell, in ttie Hai^
leian Misoel. vol. i. w Thurloe, vol. iv. pp. 670, 5S9.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 573
marquis himself might have escaped, but, seeing these un-
fortunate women, astonished with tlie danger, fall in a swoon
and perish in the flames, he rather chose to die with them
than drag out a life embittered with the remembrance of
such dismal scenes.''^ When the treasures gained by this
enterprise arrived at Portsmouth, the protector, from a
spirit of ostentation, ordered them to be transported by land
to London.
The next action against the Spaniards was more honor-
able, though less profitable, to the nation. Blake, having
heard that a Spanish fleet of sixteen ships, much richer than
the former, had taken shelter in the Canaries, immediately
made sail towards them. He found them in the bay of
Santa Cruz, disposed in a formidable posture. The bay was
secured with a strong castle, well provided with cannony
besides seven forts in several parts of it, all united by a line
of communication, manned with musketeers. Don Diego
Diagues, the Spanish admiral, ordered all his smaller ves-
sels to moor close to the shore, and posted the large galleons
farther off, at anchor, with their broadsides to the sea.
Blake was rather animated than daunted with this ap-
pearance. The wind seconded his courage, and, blowing
full into the bay, in a moment brought him among the thick-
est of his enemies. After a resistance of four hours, the
Spaniards yielded to English valor, and abandoned their
ships, which were set on fire, and consumed with all their
treasure. The greatest danger still remained to the English.
They lay under the fire of the castles and all the forts, which
must in a little time have torn them in pieces. But the
wind, suddenly shifting, carried them out of the bay, where
they left the Spaniards in astonishment at the happy temer-
ity of their audacious victors.
This was the last and greatest action of the gallant
Blake. He was consumed with a dropsy and scurvy, and
hastened home that he might yield up his breath in his na-
tive country, which he had so much adorned by his valor.
As he came within sight of land, he expired.*^ Never man
so zealous for a faction was so much respected and esteemed
even by the opposite factions. He was by principle an in-
flexible republican ; and the late usurpations, amid all the
trusts and caresses which he received from the ruling powers,
were thought to be very little grateful to him. " It is still
our duty," he said to the seamen, " to fight for our country,
SI Thuiloe, vol. t. p. 443. 82 20tli of April, 1657.
574 HISTOET OF ENGLAND.
into what hands soever the government may fall." Disinter-
ested, generous, liberal, ambitious only of true glory, dread-
ful only to his avowed enemies, he forms one of the most
perfect characters of the age, and the least stained with
those errors and violences which were then so predominant.
The protector ordered him a pompous funeral at the public
charge ; but the tears of his countrymen were the most hon-
orable panegyric on his memory.
The conduct of the protector in foreign affairs, though
imprudent and impolitic, was full of vigor and enterprise,
and drew a consideration to his country which, since the
reign of Elizabeth, it seemed to have totally lost. The great
mind of this successful usurper was intent on spreading the
renown of the English nation ; and, while he struck man-
kind with astonishment at his extraordinary fortune, he
seemed to ennoble instead of debasing that people whom he
had reduced to subjection. It was his boast that he would
render the name of an Englishman as much feared and
revered as ever was that of a Roman ; and, as his country-
men found some reality in these pretensions, their national
vanity being gratified, made them bear with more patience
all the intdignities and calamities under which they labored.
It mu|t also be acknowledged that the protector, in his
civil and-domestio administration, displayed as great regard
V both to justice and clemency as his usurped authority, de-
rived from no law and founded only on the sword, could
; possibly permit. All the chief offices in the courts of judi-
] cature were filled with men of integrity; amid the virulence
; of faction, the decrees of the judges were upright and im-
; partial ; and to every man but himself, and to himself except
] where necessity required the contrary, the law was the great
, rule o£ conduct and behavior. Vane and Lilburn, whose
' 6redit with the republicans and Levellers he dreaded,' were
indeed for some time confined to prison. Cony, who refused
to pay illegal taxes, was obliged by menaces to depart from
his obstinacy. High courts of justice were erected to try
those who. had engaged in conspiracies and insurrections
against the protector's authority, and whom he could not
safely commit to the verdicts of juries. But these irregular-
ities were deemed inevitable consequences of his illegal au-
thority. And, though often urged by his officers, as is pre-
tended,^^ to attempt a general massacre of the royalists, he
always with horror rejected such sanguinary counsels.
s» Clarendon, Life of Dr. Berwick.
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 575
In the army was laid the whole basis of the protector's
power, and in managing it consisted the chief art and deli-
cacy of his government. The soldiers were held in exact
discipline — a policy which both accustomed them to obedi-
ence, and made them less hateful and burdensome to the peo-
ple. He augmented their pay, though the jjublic necessi-
ties sometimes obliged him to run in arrears to them. Their
interests, they were sensible, were closely connected with
those of their general and protector ; and he entirely com-
manded their affectionate regard by his abilities and success
in almost every enterprise which he had hitherto undertaken.
But all military government is precarious ; much more
where it stands in opposition to civil establishments, and
still more where it encounters religious prejudices. By the
wild fanaticism which he had nourished in the soldiers, he
had seduced them into measures for which, if openly pro-
posed to them, they would have entertained the utmost
aversion. But this same spirit rendered them more difficult
to be governed, and made their caprices terrible even to
that hand which directed their movements. So often taught
that the office of king was a usurpation upon Christ, they
were apt to suspect a protector not to be altogether com-
patible with that divine authority. Harrison, though raised
to the highest dignity and possessed of Cromwell's confi-
dence, became his most inveterate enemy as soon as the au-
thority of a single person was established against which that
usurper had always made such violent protestations. Over-
ton, Rich, Okey, officers of rank in the army, were actuated
with like principles, and Cromwell was obliged to deprive
them of their commissions. Their influence, which was be-
fore thought unbounded among the troops, seemed from
that moment to be totally annihilated.
The more effectually to curb the enthusiastic and sediti-
ous spirit of the troops, Cromwell established a kind of
militia in the several counties. Companies of infantry and
cavalry were enlisted under proper officers, regular pay dis-
tributed among them, and a resource by that means pro-
vided both against the insurrections of the royalists and
mutiny of the army.
Religion can never be deemed a point of small conse-
quence in civil government ; but during this period it may
be regarded as the great spring of men's actions and deter-
minations. Though transported himself with the most fran-
tic whimsies, Cromwell had adopted a scheme for regulating
576 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
this principle in others which was sagacious and political.
Being resolved to maintain a national church, yet deter-
mined neither to admit Episcopacy nor Presbytery, he es-
tablished a number of commissioners under the name of
triers, partly laymen, partly ecclesiastics, some Presbyteri-
ans, some Independents. These presented to all livings
which were formerly in the gift of the crown ; they ex-
amined and admitted such persons as received holy orders ;
and they inspected the lives, docti-ine, and behavior of the
clergy. Instead of supporting that union between learning
and theology which has so long been attempted in Europe,
these triers embraced the latter principle in its full purity,
and made it the sole object of their examination. The can-
didates were no more perplexed with questions concerning
their progress in Greek and Roman erudition, concerning
their talent for profane arts and sciences : the chief object
of scrutiny regarded their advances in grace, and fixing the
critical moment of their conversion.
With the pretended saints of all denominations Crom-
well was familiar and easy. Laying aside the state of pro-
tector, which, on other occasions, he well knew how to main-
tain, he insinuated to them that nothing but necessity could
ever oblige him to invest himself with it. He talked spirit-
ually to them. He sighed, he wept, he canted, he prayed.
He even entered with them into an emulation of ghostly
gifts ; and these men, instead of grieving to be outdone in
their own way, were proud that his highness, by his princely
example, had dignified those practices in which they them-
selves were daily occupied.^*
If Cromwell might be said to adhere to any particular
form of religion, they were the Independents who could
chiefly boast of his favor ; and it may be afiirmed that such
pastors of that sect as were not passionately addicted to
civil liberty were all of them devoted to him.
The Presbyterian clergy also, saved from the ravages of
the Anabaptists and Millenarians, and enjoying their estab-
lishments and tithes, were not averse to his government,
though he still entertained a great jealousy of that ambi-
3* Cromwell followed, though but in part, the advice which he received from
General Harrison at the time when the intimacy mid endearment most strongly
subsisted betwixt them. "Let the waiting upon Jehovali," said that military
saint, "be the greatest and most considerable business you have evei-y day.
Eeckon it so, more than to eat, sleep, and counsel together. Bun aside somel
times from your company, and get a word with the Lord. Why should not you
have three or four precious souls always standing at your elbow, with whom you
might now and then turn into a corner ? 1 have found refreshment and mercy
in such a way."— Mijton's State Papers, p. 12,
HISTOEY OV ENGLAND. 577
tions and restless spirit by -which they were actuated. He
granted an unbounded liberty of conscience to all but Catho-
lics and prelatists; and by that means he both attached the
wild sectaries to his person, and employed them in curbing
the domineering spirit of the Presbyterians. " I am the
only man," he was often heard to say, " who has known
how to subdue that insolent sect which can suffer none but
itself."
The Protestant zeal which possessed the Presbyterians
and Independents was higlily gratified by the haughty man-
ner in which the protector so successfully supported the per-
secuted Protestants throughout all Europe. Even the Duke
of Savoy, so remote a power, and so little exposed to the
naval force of England, was obliged, by the authority of
France, to comply with his mediation, and to tolerate the
Protestants of the valleys, against whom that prince had
commenced a furious persecution. France itself was con-
strained to bear, not only with the religion, but even, in
some instances, with the seditious insolence, of the Hugue-
nots ; and when the French court applied for a reciprocal
toleration of the Catholic religion in England, the protector,
who arrogated in everything the superiority, would hearken
to no such proposal. He had entertained a project of insti-
tuting a college, in imitation of that at Rome, for the prop-
agation of the faith ; and his apostles in zeal, though not
in unanimity, had certainly been a full match for the Catho-
lics.
Cromwell retained the Church of England in constraint,
though he jiermitted its clergy a little more liberty than
the republican Parliament had formerly allowed. lie was
pleased that the superior lenity of his administration should
in everything be remarked. He bridled the royalists, both
by the army which he retained and by those secret spies
which he found means to intermix in all their counsels.
Manning being detected and punished with death, he cor-
rupted Sir Richard Willis, who was much trusted by Chan-
cellor Hyde and all the royalists ; and by means of this man
he was let into every design and conspiracy of the party.
He could disconcert any project by confining the persons
who were to be the actors in it ; and as he restored them
afterwards to liberty, his severity passed only for the result
of general jealousy and suspicion. The secret source of his
intelligence remained still unknown and unsuspected.
Conspiracies for an assassination he was chiefly afraid of,
Vol. IV.— 37
578 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
these being designs which no prudence or vigilance could
evade. ColonelTitus, under the name of Allen, had writ-
ten a spirited discourse, exhorting every one to embrace
this method of vengeance; and Cromwell knew that the in-
flamed minds of the royal party were sufliciently disposed
to put the doctrine in practice against him. He openly told
them that assassinations were base and odious, and he never
would commence hostilities by so shameful an expedient ;
but if the first attempt or provocation came from them, he
would retaliate to the uttermost. Pie liad instruments, he
said, whom he could employ, and he never would desist till
he had totally exterminated the royal family. This menace,
more than all his guards, contributed to the security of his
person.^
There was no point about which the protector was more
solicitous than to procure intelligence. This article alone,
it is said, cost him sixty thousand pounds a year. Post-
masters, both at home and abroad, were in his pay ; carriers
were searched or bribed ; secretaries and clerks were cor-
rupted ; the greatest zealots in all parties were often those
who conveyed private information to him ; and nothing
could escape his vigilant inquiry. Such at least is the rep-
resentation made by historians of Cromwell's administra- '
tion. But it must be confessed that, if we may judge by
those volumes of Thurloe's papers which have been lately
published, this affair, like many others, has been greatly
magnified. We scarcely find by that collection that any
secret counsels of foreign states, except those of Holland,
which are not expected to be concealed, were known to the
protector.
The general behavior and deportment of this man, who
had been raised from a very private station, who had passed
most of his youth in the country, and who was still con-
strained so much to frequent bad company, was such as
might befit the greatest monarch. He maintained a dignity
without either affectation or ostentation, and supported
with all strangers that high idea with which his great ex-
ploits and prodigious fortune had impressed them. Among
his ancient friends he could relax himself ; and by trifling
and amusement, jesting and. making verses, he feared not
exposing himself to their most familiar approaches.^^ With
others he sometimes pushed matters to the length of rustic
buffoonery ; and he would amuse himself by putting burn-
's See note [LL] at the end of tlie volume. " Whitlooke, p. 647,
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 579
ing coak into the boots and hose of the officers who attended
him.*' Before the king's trial, a meeting was agreed on
between the chiefs of the republican party and the general
officers, in order to concert the model of that free govern-
ment which they were to substitute in the room of the mon-
archical constitution now totally subverted. After debates
on this subject — the most important that could fall under
the discussion of human creatures — 'Ludlow tells us that
Cromwell, by way of frolic, threw a cushion at his head ;
and when Ludlow took up another cushion, in order to re-
turn the compliment, the general ran down-stairs, and had
almost fallen in the hurry. When the high court of justice
was signing the warrant for the execution of the king, a
matter, if possible, still more serious, Cromwell, taking the
pen in his hand, befoi-e he subscribed his name, bedaubed
with ink the face of Martin, who sat next Iiim ; and, the
pen being delivered to Martin, he practised the same frolic
upon Cromwell.*' He frequently gave feasts to his inferior
officers ; and when the meat was set upon the table, a signal
was given, the soldiers rushed in upon them, and with much
noise, tumult, and confusion, ran away with all the dishes,
and disappointed the guests of their expected meal."'
That vein of the frolic and pleasantry which made a part,
however inconsistent, of Cromwell's character was apt
sometimes to betray him into other inconsistencies, and to
discover itself even where religion might seem to be a little
concerned. It is a tradition that one day, sitting at table,
the protector had a bottle of wine brought him, of a kind
which he valued so highly that he must needs open the
bottle himself ; but in attempting it, the corkscrew dropped
from his hand. Immediately his courtiers and generals
flung themselves on the floor to recover it. Cromwell
burst out a-laughing. " Should any fool," said he, " put in
his head at the door, he would fancy, from your posture,
that you were seeking the Lord ; and you are only seeking
a corkscrew."
Amid all the unguarded play and buffoonery of this
singular personage, he took the opportunity of remarking
the characters, designs, and weaknesses of men ; and he
would sometimes push them, by an indulgence in wine, to
open to him the most secret recesses of their bosom. Great
regularity, however, and even austerity of manners, were
always maintained in his court ; and he was careful never,
87 Bates 38 Trial of the Regicides. »" Bates.
580 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
by any liberties, to give offence to the most rigid of the
godly. Some state was upheld, but with little expense and
without any splendor. The nobility, though courted by
him, kept at a distance, and disdained to intermix with
those mean persons who were the instruments of his govern-
ment. Without departing from economy, he was generous
to those who served him ; and he knew how to find out and
engage in his interests every man possessed of those talents
which any particular employment demanded. His generals,
his admirals, his judges, his ambassadors, were persons who
contributed, all of them in their several spheres, to the
security of the protector, and to the honor and interest of
the nation.
f Under pretence of uniting Scotland and Ireland in one
\ commonwealth with England, Cromwell had reduced those
[kingdoms to a total subjection; and he treated them en-
itirely as conquered provinces. The civil administration of
■Scotland was placed in a council consisting mostly of Eng-
lish, of which Lord Brogliil was president. Justice was ad-
ministered by seven judges, four of whom were English.
In oi'der to curb the tyrannical nobility, he both abolished
all vassalagCr^" and revived the office of justice of peace,
which King James had introduced but was not able to
support.''* A long line of forts and garrisons was main-
tained throughout the kingdom. An array of ten thousand
men ^ kept everything in peace and obedience ; and neither
the banditti of the rnountains nor the bigots of the Low
Countries could indulge their inclination to turbulence and
disorder. He courted the Presbyterian clergy, though he
nourished that intestine enmity which prevniled between
resolutioners and protesters ; and he found that very little
policy was requisite to foment quarrels among theologians.
He permitted no church assemblies, being sensible that
from thence had proceeded many of the past disorders ; and,
in the main, the Scots were obliged to acknowledge that
never before, while they enjoyed their irregular, factious
liberty, had they obtained so much happiness as at present,
when reduced to subjection under a foreign nation.
The protector's administration of Ireland was more
severe and violent. The government of that Island was
first intrusted to Fleetwood, a notorious fanatic, who had
married Ireton's widow ; then to Henry Cromwell, second
son of the protector, a young man of an amiable, mild dis-
40 WMtlooke, p. 570. •' Thurloe, vol. iy. p. 57. " Thurloe, vol. Iv. p. 557.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 581
position, and not destitute of vigor and capacity. Above
five millions of a,cres, forfeited either by the popish rebels or
by the adherents of the king, were divided, partly among
the adventurers who had advanced money to the Parlia-
ment, partly among the English soldiers who had arrears
due to them. Examples of a more sudden and violent
change of property are scarcely to be found in any history.
An order was even issued to confine all the native Irish to
the province of Connaught, where they would be shut up
by rivers, lakes, and mountains, and could not, it was hoped,
be any longer dangerous to the English government; but
this barbarous and absurd policy, which, from an impatience
of attain. iig immediate security, must have depopulated all
the other provinces and rendered the English estates of no
value, was soon abandoned as impracticable.
Cromwell began to hope that by his administration, at-
tended with so much lustre and success abroad, so much
order and tranquillity at home, he had now acquired such
authority as would enable him to meet the representatives
of the nation, and would assure him of their dutiful com-
pliance with his government. He summoned a Parliament ;
but, not trusting altogether to the good-will of the people,
he used every art which his new model of representation j
allowed him to employ, in order to influence the elections!
and fill the House with liis own creatures. Ireland, being!
entirely in the hands of the army, chose few but such
officers as were most acceptable to him. Scotland showed
a like compliance ; and as the nobility and gentry of that
kingdom regarded their attendance on English parliaments
as an ignominious badge of slavery, it was, on that account,
more easy for the officers to prevail in the elections. Not-
withstanding all these precautions, the protector still found
that tiie majority would not be favorable to him. He set
guards, therefore, on the door, who permitted none to enti e
but such as produced a warrant from his council ; and tha
council rejected about u, hundred, who either refused a
recognition of the protector's government, or were on other
accounts obnoxious to him. These protested against so
egregious a violence, subversive of all liberty ; but every
application for redress was neglected both by the council
and the Parliament.
The majority of the Parliament, by means of these arts
and violences, was now atlast either friendly to the protector,
or resolved by their compliance to adjust, if possible, this
582 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
military government lj their laws and liberties. They
voted a renunciation of all title in Charles Stuart or any of
his family ; and this was the first act dignified v.itli tlie ap-
pearance of national consent which had ever had that ten-
dency. Colonel Jephson, in order to sound the inclinations
of the House, ventured to move that the Parliament should
bestow the crown on Cromwell ; and no surprise or re-^
luctance was discovered on the occasion. When Cromwell
afterwards asked Jephson what induced him to make such
a motion, " As long," said Jephson, " as I have the honor to
sit in Parliament, I must follow the dictates of my own
conscience, whatever offence I may be so unfortunate as to
give to you." " Get thee gone," said Cromwell, giving him
a gentle blow on the shoulder — "get thee gone, for a mad
fellow as thou art."
In order to pave the way to this advancement, for which
he so ardently longed, Cromwell resolved to sacrifice his
major-generals, whom he knew to be extremely odious to
the nation. That measure was also become necessary for
his own security. All government purely military fluctu-
ates perpetually between a despotic monarchy and a des-
potic aristocracy, according as the authority of the
chief commander prevails, or that of the officers next
him in rank and dignity. The major-generals, being pos-
sessed of so much distinct jurisdiction, began to estab-
lish a separate title to power, and had rendered them-
selves formidable to the protector himself ; and for this in-
convenience, though he had not foreseen it, he well knew
before it was too late to provide a proper remedy. Clay-
pole, his son-in-law, who possessed his confidence, aban-
doned them to the pleasure of the House ; and though the
name was still retained, it was agreed to abridge, or rather
entirely annihilate, the power of the major-generals.
At length a motion in form was made by Alderman /
Pack, one of the city members, for investing the pro-
tector with the dignity of king. This motion at first ex-
cited great disordei-, and divided the whole House into
parties. The chief opposition came from the usual ad-
herents of the protector, the major-generals, and such of-
ficers as depended on them. Lambert, a man of deep in-
trigue, and of great interest in the array, had long enter-
tained the ambition of succeeding Cromwell in the protec-
torship ; and he foresaw that if the monarchy were restored,
hereditary right would also be established, and the crown
HISTOET OF ENGLAND. 583
transmitted to the posterity of the prince first elected. He
pleaded therefore, conscience ; and rousing all those civil
and religious jealousies against kingly government vrhich
had been so industriously encoui-aged among the soldiers,
and which served them as a pretence for so many violences,
he raised a numerous, and still more formidable, party
against the motion.
On the other hand, the motion^ was supported by every
one who was more particularly devoted to the protector, and
who hoped by so acceptable a measure to pay court to the
prevailing authority. Many persons, also attached to their
country, despaired of ever being able to subvert the present
illegal establishment ; and were desirous, by fixing it on
ancient foundations, to induce the protector, from views of
his own safety, to pay a regard to the ancient laws and lib-
erties of the kingdom. Even the royalists imprudently
joined in the measure, and hoped that, when the question
regarded only persons, not forms of goverment, no one
would any longer balance between the ancient royal family
and an ignoble usurper, who, by blood, treason, and iierfidy,
had made his way to the throne. [1657.] The bill was
voted by a considerable majority; and a committee was
appointed to reason with the protector, and to overcome
those scruples which he pretended against accepting so lib-
eral an offer.
The conference lasted for several days. The committee
urged that all the statutes and customs of England were
founded on the supposition of regal authority, and could
not without extreme violence be adjusted to any other form
of government ; that a protector, except during the minority
of a king, was a name utterly unknown to the laws, and no
man was acquainted with the extent or limits of his author-
ity ; that if it were attempted to define every part of his
jurisdiction, many years, if not ages, would be required for
the execution of so complicated a work ; if the whole power
of the king were at once transferred to him, the question
was plainly about a name, and the preference was indisput-
ably due to the ancient title ; that the English constitution
was more anxious concerning the form of government than
concerning the birthright of the first magistrate, and had pro-
vided, by an express law of Henry VH., for the security of
those who act in defence of the king in being, by whatever
means he might have acquired possession ; that it was ex-
tremelv the interest of all his highness's friends to seek the
584 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
shelter of this statute, and even the people in general were
desirous of such a settlement, and in all juries were with
great difficulty induced to give their \erdict in favor of a
protector ; that the great source of all the late commotions
had been the jealousy of liberty ; and that a republic, to-
gether with a protector, had been established, in order to
provide further securities for the freedom of tlie consti-
tution ; but that by experience the remedy had been
found insufficient, even dangerous and pernicious, since
every undeterminate power, such as that of a protector,
must be arbitrary, and the more arbitrary as it was con-
trary to the genius and inclination of the people.
The difficulty consisted not in persuading Cromwell.
He was sufficiently convinced of the solidity of these rea-
sons ; and his inclination as well as judgment was entirely
on the side of the committee. But how to bring over the
^soldiers to the same way of thinking was the question. Tlie
office of king had been painted to them in such horrible
colors that there were no hopes of reconciling them sud-
denly to it, even though bestowed upon their general, to
whom they were so much devoted. A contradiction, open
and direct, to all past professions would make them pass,
in the eyes of the nation, for the most shameless hypocrites,
enlisted by no other than mercenary motives in the cause
of the most perfidious traitor. Principles such as they were
had been encouraged in them by every consideration, human
and divine ; and though it was easy, where interest con-
curred, to deceive them by the thinnest disguises, it mi
the time of the king's trial, he had fallen on his knees be-
fore his father, and had conjured him, by every tie of dutyj
and humanity, to spare the life of that monarch. Crom^
588 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
well had two daughters unmarried ; one of them he now
gave in marriage to the grandson and heir of his great
friend, the Earl of "Warwick, with whom he had, in every
fortune, preserved an uninterrupted intimacy and good cor-
respondence. The other he married to the Viscount Fau-
conberg, of a family formerly devoted to the royal party.
He was ambitious of forming connections with the nobility;
and it was one chief motive for his desiring the title of king
that he might replace everything in its natural order, and
restore to the ancient families the trust and honor of which
he now found himself obliged, for his own safety, to deprive
them.
[1658.] The Parliament was again assembled, consisting,
as in the times of monarchy, of two Houses, the Commons
and the other House. Cromwell, during the interval, had
sent writs to his House of Peers, which consisted of sixty
members. They were composed of five or six ancient peers,
of several gentlemen of fortune and distinction, and of
some officers who had risen from the meanest stations.
None of the ancient peers, however, though summoned by
writ, would deign to accept of a seat, which they must share
with such companions as were assigned to them. The pro-
tector endeavored, at first, to maintain the appearance of a
legal magistrate. He placed no guard at the door of either
House, but soon found how incompatible liberty is with
military usurpations. By bringing so great a number of his
friends and adherents into the other House, he had lost the
majority among the national representatives. In conse-
quence of a clause in the humble petition and advice, the
Commons assumed a power of readmitting those members
whom the council had formerly excluded. Sir Arthur
Hazelrig and some others, whom Cromwell had created
lords, rather chose to take their seats with the Commons.
An incontestable majority now declared themselves against
the protector ; and they refused to acknowledge the juris-
diction of that other House which he had established.
Even the validity of the humble petition and advice was
questioned, as being voted by a Parliament which lay under
force, and which was deprived, by military violence, of a
considerable number of its members. The protector, dread-
ing combinations between the Parliament and the malcon-
tents in the army, resolved to allow no leisure for formino-
any conspii-acy against him, and with expressions of great
displeasure, he dissolved the Parliament. When urged by
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 589
Fleetwood and others of his friends not to precipitate him-
self into this rash measure, he swore by the living God that
they should not sit a moment longer.
These distractions at home were not able to take off the
protector's attention from foreign affairs, and in all his meas-
ui-es he proceeded with the same vigor and enterprise as if
secure of the duty and attachment of the three kingdoms.
His alliance with Sweden he still supported, and he endeav-
ored to assist that crown in its successful enterprises for
reducing all its neighbors to subjection, and rendering itself
absolute master of the Baltic. As soon as Spain declared
war against him, he concluded a peace and an alliance with
France, and united himself in all his counsels with that po-
tent and ambitious kingdom. Spain, having long courted
in vain the friendship of the successful usurper, was reduced
at last to apply to the unfortunate prince. Charles formed
a league with Philip, removed his small court to Bruges, in
the Low Countries, and raised four regiments of his own
subjects, whom he employed in the Spanish service. The
Duke of York, who had, with applause, served some cam-
paigns in the French army, and who had merited the par-
ticular es'eem of Marshal Turenne, now joined his brotlier,
and continued to seek military experience under Don John
of Austria and the Prince of Conde.
The scheme of foreign politics adopted by'the protector
was highly imprudent, but was suitable to that magnanimity
and enterprise with which he was so signally endowed. He
was particularly desirous of conquest and dominion on the
Continent ; *^ and he sent over into Flanders six thousand
men under Reynolds, who joined the French army com-
manded by Turenne. In the former campaign, Mardyke
was taken, and put into the hands of the English. Early
this campaign, siege was laid to Dunkii-k ; and when the
Spanish army advanced to relieve it, the combined armies
of France and England marched out of their trenches, and
fought the battle of the Dunes, where the Spaniards were
totally defeated.*^ The valor of tlie English was much re-
^K He aspired to get possession of Elsinore and the passage of the Sound. See
World s Mistalce in Oliver Cromwell. He also endeavored Lo yet po.ibesslon of
Bremen. Thurloe, vol. vi. p. 47y.
■lo It was remarked by the saints of that time that the battle w.-is fought on a
day which was hdld fora fast iu Lo.idon, so that, a- Fleetwood said (Thurloe. vol.
vii. p. 159), " Wliile we were praying they w^ire fighting, and Ihe Lo a hath t^iveii a
signal answer. The Lord has not only owned ns in our work there, but in our
waiting upon him in a way of prayer_, which is indeed our old, experienced, ap-
proved way in all straits and difliculties." Cromwell's Letter to Blake and Mon-
tague, Ms brave admirals, is remarkable for the same spirit. Thurloe, vol. iv. p.
590 HISTOET OF BNGLAND.
marked on this occasion. Dunkirk, being soon after sur-
rendered, was by agreement delivered to Cromwell. He
committed the government of that important place to Lock-
hart, a Scotchman of abilities, who had married his niece,
and was his ambassador at the court of France.
This acquisition was regarded by the protector as the
means only of obtaining further advantages. He was re-
solved to concert measures with the French court for the
final conquest and partition of the Low Countries." Had
he lived much longer, and maintained his authority in Eng-
land, so chimerical, or rather so dangerous, a project would
certainly have been carried into execution. And this first
and principal step towards more extensive conquest, which
France, during a whole century, has never yet been able, by
an infinite expense of blood and treasure, fully to attain,
had at once been accomplished by the enterprising though
unskilful politics of Cromwell.
During these transactions, great demonstrations of mu-
tual friendship and regard jiassed between the French king
and the protector. Lord Fauconberg, Cromwell's son-in-
law, was despatched to Louis, then in the camp before Dun-
kirk, and was received with the regard usually paid to
foreign princes by the French court.^' Mazarine sent to
London his nephew, Mancini, along with the Duke of Cre-
qui ; and expressed his regret that his urgent affairs should
deprive him of the honor, which he had long wished for, of
paying, in person, his respects to the greatest man in the
world.*'
The protector reaped little satisfaction from the success
of his arms abroad ; the situation in which he stood at home
kept him in perpetual uneasiness and inquietude. His ad-
ministration, so expensive both by military enterprises and
secret intelligence, had exhausted his revenue and involved
him in a considerable debt. The royalists, he heard, had
744. *' You have," says lie, " as I verily believe and am persuaded, a plentiful
stock of prayers going'for you dailv, sent up by the soberest and most approved
ministers and Christians in tliis nation, and, notwithstanding some discourage-
ments, very much wrestlinu' of faith for you, Which are to us, and I trust will l3e
to you, matter of great encouragement. But, notwithstanding all this, it will be
good for you and us to deliver up ourselves and all our affairs to the disposition
of our all-wise Father, who, not only out of prerogative, but because of liis good-
ness, wisdom, and truth, ought to be resigned unto by his creaiures, especially
those who are children of his begetting through the Spirit," etc.
^- Thurloe, vol. i. p. 762.
« Thurloe, vol. vii. pp. 161, 153.
" In reality the cardinal had not entertained so high an idea of Cromwell.
He used to say that he was a fortunate madman. Vie de Cromwell par Kague-
iiet. See also Carte's Collection, vol. ii. p. 81. Gumble's Lite of Monk, p. 93.
World's Mistake in OUver Cromwell.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 591
renewerl tlieir conspiracies for a general insurrection ; and
Ormond was secretly come over with a view of concerting
measures for the exec^ution of this project. Lord Fairfax, Sir
William "Waller, and many heads of the Presbyterians had
secretly entered into the engagement. Even the army was
infected with the general spirit of discontent ; and some
sudden and dangerous eruption was every moment to be
dreaded from it. No hopes remained, after his 'violent
bi-each with the last Parliament, that he should ever be able
to establish, with general consent, a legal settlement, or tem-
per the military with any mixture of civil authority. All
his arts and policy were e.xhausted ; and having so often, by
fraud and false pretences, deceived every party, and almost
every individual, he could no longer hope, by repeating the
same professions, to, meet with equal confidence and regard.
However zealous the royalists, their conspiracy took not
effect : Willis discovered the whole to the protector. Or-
mond was obliged to fly, and he deemed himself fortunate
to have escaped so vigilant an administration. Great num-
bers were thrown into prison. A high court of justice was
anew erected for the trial of those criminals whose guilt
was most apparent. Notvvithstanding the recognition of
his authorily by thei Inst Parliament, the protector could not
as yet trust to an unbiassed jury. Sir Henry Slingsby and
Dr. Huet were condemned and beheaded. Mordaunt,
brother to the Earl of Peterborough, narrowly escaped.
The numbers for his condemnation and his acquittal were
equal ; and just as the sentence was pronounced in his favor,
Colonel Pride, who was resolved to condemn him came, into
court. Ashton, Storey, and Bestley were hanged in differ-
ent streets of the city.
The conspiracy of the Millenarians in the army struck
Cromwell with still greater apprehensions. Harrison and
the other discarded officers of that party could not remain
at rest. Stimulated equally by revenge, by ambition, and
by conscience, they still liarbored in their breast some des-
perate project ; and there wanted not officers in the army
who, from like motives, were disposed to second all their
undertakings. The Levellers and agitators had been en-
couraged by Cromwell to interpose with their advice in all
political deliberations ; and he had even pretended to honor
many of them with his intimate friendship, while lie con-
ducted his daring enterprises against the king and tbe Par-
liament. It was a usual practice with him, in order to
592 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
familiarize himself the more with the agitators, who were
commonly corporals or sergeants, to take them to bed with
him, and there, after praj'ers and exhortations, to discuss
together their projects and principles, political as well as re-
ligious. Having assumed the dignity of protector, he ex-
cluded them from all his councils, and had neither leisure
nor inclination to indulge them any further in their wonted
familiarities. Among those who were enraged at this treat-
ment was Sexby, an active agitator, who now employed '
against him all that restless industiy which had formerly
been exerted in his favor. He even went so far as to enter
into correspondence with Spain ; and Cromwell, who knew
the distempers of the army, was justly afraid of some mu-
tiny, to which a day, an hour, an instant, might provide
leaders.
Of assassination likewise he was apprehensive, from the
zealous spirits wliich actuated the soldiers. Sindercome had
undertaken to murder' him; and by the most unaccountable
accidents, had often been prevented from executing his
bloody purpose. His design was discovered ; but the pro-
tector could never find the bottom of the enterprise, nor de-
tect any of his accomplices. He was tried by a jury ; and,
notwithstanding the general odium attending that crime,
notwithstanding the clear and full proof of his guilt, so little
conviction prevailed of the protector^s right to the supreme
government, it was with the utmost difficulty™ that this
cons|)irator was condemned. When everything was pre-
pared for his execution, he was found dead, from poison, as
is supposed, which he had voluntarily taken.
The protector might better have supported those fears
and apprehensions which the public distempers occasioned,
had he enjoyed any domestic satisfaction, or possessed any
cordial friend of his own family in whose bosom he coidd
safely have unloaded his anxious and corroding cares. But
Fleetwood, his son-in-law, actuated by the wildest zeal, began
, to estrange himself from him ; and was enraged to discover
that Cromwell, in all his enterprises, had entertained views
of promoting his own grandeur more than of encouraging
1 piety and religion, of which he made such fervent profes-
Isions. His eldest daughter, married to Fleetwood, had
ado])ted republican principles so vehement that she could
not with patience behold power lodged in a single person,
even in her indulgent father. His other daughters were no
to Thurloe, vol. vi. p. 63.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 593
less prejudiced in favor of the royal cause, and regretted the
violences and iniquities into which they thought their family
had so unhapi?ily been transported. Above all, the sickness
of Mrs. Claypole, his peculiar favorite, a lady endued with
many humane virtues and amiable accomplishments, depress-
ed his anxious mind and poisoned all his enjoyments. She
had entertained a high regard for Dr. Huet, lately executed ;
and being refused his pardon, the melancholy of her temper,
increased by her distempered body, had prompted her to
lament to her father all his sanguinary measures, and urge
him to compunction for those heinous crimes into which his
fatal ambition had betrayed him. Her death, which followed
soon after, .gave new edge to every word which she had
uttered.
All composure of mind was now forever fled from the
protector. He felt that the grandeur which he had attained
with so much guilt and courage could not insure him that
tranquillity which it belongs to virtue alone, and moderation,
fully to ascertain. Overwhelnled with the load of public
affairs, dreading perpetually some fatal accident in his dis-
tempered government, seeing nothing around hira but
treacherous friends or enraged enemies, possessing the con-
fidence of no party, resting his title on no principle, civil or
religious, he found his power to depend on so delicate a
poise of factions and interests as the smallest event was able,
without any preparation, in a moment to overturn. Death
too, which with such signal intrepidity he had braved in the
field, being incessantly threatened by the poniards of fanati-
cal or interested assassins, was ever present to his terrified
apprehension, and haunted him in every scene of business
or repose. Each action of his life betrayed the terrors under
which he labored. The aspect of strangers was uneasy to
him ; with a piercing and anxious eye he surveyed every face
to which he was not daily accustomed. He never moved a
step without strong guards attending him ; he wore armor
under his clothes, and further secured himself by offensive
weapons — a sword, falchion, and pistols, which he- always
carried about him. He returned from no place by the direct
road, or by the same way which he went. Every journey
he performed with hurry and precipitation. Seldom he
slept above three nights together in the same chamber, and
he never let it be known beforehand what chamber he in-
tended to choose, nor intrusted himself in any which was
not provided with back doors, at which sentinels were cai-e-
VoL. IV^.— 88
594 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
fully placed. Society teVrified him, while he reflected on
his numerous, unknown, and implacable enemies; solitude
astonished him by withdrawing that protection which he
found so necessary for his security.
His body also, from the contagion of his anxious mind,
began to be affected ; and his health seemed sensibly to
decline. He was seized with a slow fever, which changed
into a tertian ague. For the space of a week no dangerous-
symptoms appeared ; and in the intervals of the fits he was
able to walk abroad. At length the fever increased, and he
himself began to entertain some thoughts of death, and to
cast his eye towards that future existence whose idea had
once been intimately present to him ; though since, in the
hurry of affairs, and in the shock of wars and factions, it
had no doubt been considerably obliterated. He asked
Goodwin, one of his preachers, if the doctrine were true
that the elect could never fall or suffer a final reprobation.
" Nothing more certain," replied the preacher. "Then I am
safe," said the protector, " for I am sure that once I was in
a state of grace."
His physicians were sensible of the perilous condition to
■which his distemper had reduced him ; but his chaplains, by
their prayers, visions, and revelations, so buoyed up his
hopes that he began to believe his life out of all danger. A
favorable answer, it was pretended, had been returned by
Heaven to the petitions of all the godly, and he relied on
their asseverations much more than on the opinion of the
most experienced physicians. "I tell you," he cried, with
confidence, to the latter — " I tell you, I shall not die of this
distemper; I am well assured of my recovery. It is prom-
ised by the Lord, not only to my supplications, but to those
of men who hold a stricter commerce and more intimate
correspondence with him. Ye may have skill in your pro-
fession ; but nature can do more than all the physicians in
the world, and God is far above nature." ^^ Nay, to such a
degree of madness did their enthusiastic assurances amount
that upon a fast-day, which was observed on his account
both at Hampton Court and at Whitehall, they did not so
much pray for his health as give thanks for the undoubted
pledges which they had received of his recovery. He him-
self was overheard offering up his addresses to Heaven ; and
so far had the illusions of fanaticism prevailed over the
plainest dictates of natural morality that he assumed more
"' Bates ; see also Thui-loe, vol. vii. pp. 355, 416.
HISTOEY OF ENGLAND. 595
the character of a mediator interceding for his people than
that of a criminal, whose atrocious violation of social duty
had from every tribunal, human and divine, merited the
severest vengeance.
Meanwhile all the symptoms began to wear a more fatal
aspect, and the physicians were obhged to break silence,
and to declare that the protector could not survive the next
fit with which he was threatened. The council was alarmed.
A deputation was sent to know his will with regard to his
successor. His senses were gone, and he could not now
express his intentions. They asked him whether he did not
mean that his eldest son, Richard, should succeed him in the
protectorship. A simple affirmative was, or seemed to be,
extorted from him. Soon after, on the 3d of September, /
that very day which he had always considered as the most
fortunate for him, he expired. A violent tempest, which
immediately succeeded his death, served as a subject of
discourse to the vulgar. His partisans as well as his enemies
were fond of remarking this event, and each of them en-
deavored, by forced references, to mterpret it as a confirma-
tion of their pai'ticular pi-ejudices.
The writers attached to the memory of this wonderful
person make his character, with regard to abilities, bear the
air of the most extravagant panegyric ; his enemies form
Such a representation of his moral qualities as resembles the
most virulent inveclive. Both of them, it must be confessed,
are supported by such striking circumstances in his conduct
and fortune as bestow on their representation a great air of
probability. " What can be more extraordinary," it is said,'^
"than that a person of private birth and education, no for-
tune, no eminent qualities of body, which have sometimes,
nor shining talents of mind, which have often, raised men to
the highest dignities, should have the courage to attempt, and
the abilities to execute, so great a design as the subverting one
of the most ancient and best-established monarchies in the
world ? That he should have the power and boldness to put
his prince and master to an open and infamous death? Should
banish that numerous and strongly allied family? Cover all
these temerities under a seeming obedience to a Parliament
in whose service he pretended to be retained ? Trample,
too, upon that Parliament in their turn, and scornfully expel
them as soon as they gave him ground of dissatisfaction ?
Erect in their place the dominion of the saints, and give
62 Cowley's Discourses : this passage is altered in some particulars from tlie
Grigliial.
595 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
reality to the most visionary idea which the heated imagi-
nation of any fanatic was ever able to entertain ? Suppress
again that monster in its infancj^, and openly set up himself
above all things that ever were called sovereign in England?
Overcome first all his enemies by arms, and all his friends
afterwards by artifice? Ser.ve all parties patiently for a
while, and command them victoriously at last? Overrun
each corner of the three nations, and subdue, with equal
facility, both the riches of the south and the poverty of the
north ? Be feared and courted by all foreign ))rinces, and
be adopted a brother to the gods of the earth ? Call together
parliaments with a word of his pen, and scatter them again
with the breath of his mouth ? Reduce to subjection a war-
like and discontented nation by means of a mutinous army ?
Command a mutinous army by means of seditious and factious
officers? Be humbly and daily petitioned that he would
be pleased, at the rate of millions a year, to be hired as mas-
ter of those who had hired him before to be their servant ?
Have the estates and lives of three nations as much at his
disposal as was once the little inheritance of hia father, and
be as noble and liberal in the spending of them ? And,
lastly (for there is no end of enumerating every particular
of his glory), with one word bequeath all his power and
splendor to his posterity ? Die possessed of peace at home
and triun\ph abroad ? Be buried among kings, and with
more than regal solemnity ; and leave a name behind him
not to be extinguished but with the whole world, which, as
it was too little for his praise, so might it have been for his
conquests, if the short line of his mortal life could have
stretched out to the extent of his immortal designs?"
My intention is not to disfigure this picture drawn by so
masterly a hand ; I shall only endeavor to remove from it
somewhat of the marvellous — a circumstance which on all
occasions gives much ground for doubt and suspicion. It
seems to me that the circumstance of Cromwell's life in
which his abilities are principally discovered is his rising
from a private station, in opposition to so many rivals, so
much advanced before him, to a high command and author-
ity in the army. His great courage, his signal military
talents, his eminent dexterity and address, were all requisite
for this important acquisition. Yet will not this promotion
appear the effect of supernatural abilities, when we consider
that Fairfax himself, a private gentleman, who had not the
ad\-antage of a seat in Parliament, had, through the same
steps, attained even a superior rank, and, if endued with
HISTORY OP ENGLAND. 597
common capacity and penetration, had been able to retain
it. To incite such an army to rebellion against the Piirlia-
ment required no uncommon art or industry ; to have kept
them in obedience had been the more difficult enterprise.
When the breach was once formed between the military a.id
civil pov>rers, a supreme and absolute authority, from that'
moment, is devolved on the general ; and if he be after-
wards pleased to employ artifice or policy, it may be re-
garded on most occasions as great condescension, if not as
supertiuous caution. That Cromwell was ever able really
to blind or overreach either the king or the republicans
does not appear. As they possessed no means of resisting
the force under his command, they were glad to temporize
with him, and, by seeming to be deceived, wait for oppor-
tunities of freeing themselves from his dominion. If he
seduced the military fanatics, it is to be considered that
their interests and his evidently concurred, that their ig-
norance and low education exposed them to the grossest
imposition, and that he himself was at bottom as frantic an
enthusiast as the worst of them ; and, in order to obtain
their confidence, needed but to display those vulgar and
ridiculous habits which he had early acquired, and on which
he set so high a value. An army is so forcible and at the
same time so coarse a weapon that any hand which wields
it may, without much dexterity, perform any operation, and
attain any ascendant in human society.
The domestic administration of Cromwell, though it dis- |
covers great abilities, was conducted without any plan either j
of liberty or arbitrary power ; perhaps his difficult situation
admitted of neither. His foreign enterprises, though full
of intrepidity, wei-e pernicious to national interest, and seem
more the result of impetuous fury or narrow prejudices than
of cool foresight and deliberation. An eminent personage,
however, he was in many respects, and even a superior
genius, but unequal and irregular in his operations. And
though not defective in any talent, except that of elocution,
the abilities which in him were most admirable, and which
most contributed to his marvellous success, were the mag-
nanimous resolution of his enterprises, and his peculiar dex-
terity in discovering the characters and practising on the
weakness of mankind.
If we survey the moral character of Cromwell with that
indulgence which is due to the blindness and infirmities of
the human species, we shall not be inclined to load his mem-
ory with such violent reproaches as those which his enemies
598 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
usually throw upon it. Amid the passions and prejudices
of that pei-iod, that he should prefer tlie parliamentary to
the royal cause will not appear extraordinary, since even at
present some men of sense and knowledge are disposed to
think that the question with regard to the justice of the
quarrel may be regarded as doubtful and vmcertain. The
murder of the king, the most atrocious of all his actions, was
to him covered under a mighty cloud of republican and fa-
natical illusions ; and it is not impossible but he might be-
lieve it, as many others did, the most meritorious action that
he could perform. His subsequent usurpation was the effect
of necessity as well as of ambition, nor is it easy to see how
the various factions could at that time have been restrained
without a mixture of military and arbitrary authority. The
/private deportment of Cromwell as a son, a husband, a
( father, a friend, is exposed to no considerable censure, if it
Vdoes not rather merit praise. And, upon the whole, his
character does not appear more extraordinary and unusual
by the mixture of so much absurdity with so much penetra-
tion than by his tempering such violent ambition and such
enraged fanaticism with so much regard to justice and
humanity.
Cromwell was in the fifty-ninth year of his age when he
died. He was of a robust frame of body, and of a manly,
though not of an agreeable aspect. He left only two sons
(Richard and Henry) and three daughters (one married to
General Fleetwood, another to Lord Fauconberg, a third to
Lord Rich). His father died when he was very young. His
mother lived till after he was protector, and, contrary to her
orders, he buried her with great pomp in Westminster Ab-
"bey. She could not be persuaded tliat his power or person
was ever in safety. At every noise which she heard, she
exclaimed that her son was murdered, and was never satis-
fied that he was alive if she did not receive frequent visits
from him. She was a decent woman, and by her frugality
and industry had raised and educated a numerous family
upon a small fortune. She even had been obliged to set up
a brewery at Huntingdon, which she managed to good ad-
vantage. Hence Cromwell, in the invectives of that age, is
often stigmatized with the name of the brewer. Ludlow, by
way of insult, mentions the great accession which he would
receive to his royal revenues upon his mother's death, who
possessed a jointure of sixty pounds a year upon his estate.
She was of a good family, of the name of Stuart, remotely
allied, as is by some supposed, to the royal family.
NOTES.
NOTE [A], p. 24.
Parliamentary History, vol. v. p. 290. So little fixed at this time were the
rules of Parliament that the Commons complained to the Peers of a speech made
in the upper House by the Bishop of Lincoln, which it belonged only to that
House to censure, and which the other could not regularly be supposed to be ac-
quainted with. These, at least, are the rules established since the Parliament
became a real seat of power and scene of business. Neither the king must take
notice of what passes in either House, nor either Plouse of what passes in the
other, till regularly informed of il. The Commons, in their famous protestation.
1621, tixed this rule with regard to the king, though at present they would not
bind themselves by it. But as liberty was yet new those maxims which guard
and regulate it were unknown and unpractised.
NOTE [B], p. 42.
Some of the facts in this narrative, which seem to condemn Raleigh, are taken
from the king's Declaration, which, bein§; published by authority, when the facts
were recent, being extracted from examinations before the privy council, and
subscribed by six privy-councillors, among whom was Abbot, Archbishop of
Canterbury, a prelate nowise complaisant to the court, must be allowed to have
great weigh,t, or rather to be of undoubted credit. Yet the most material facts
are confirmed either by the nnture .ind reason of the thing, or by Sir Walter's
own apology and his leLtere, The king's Declaration is in the Harleian Miscellany,
vol. iii. No. 2.
1. There seems to be an improbability that the Spaniards, who knew nothing
of Kaleigh's pretended mine, should have built a town, in so wide a coast, within
three miles of it. The chances are extremely against such a supposition ; and it
is more natural to think that the view of plundering the town led him thither
than that of working a mine. 2. No such mine is there found to this day. 3.
B^leigh, in fact, found no mine ; and, in fact, he plundered and burned aSpanish
town. Is it not more probable, therefore, that the latter was his intention ? How
can the secrets of his breast be rendered so visible as to counterpoise certain
facts ? 4. He confesses, in a letter to Lord Care w, that though he knew it, yet he
concealed from the king the settlement of the Spaniards on that coast. Does
not this fact alone render him sutficiently criminal? 5. His commission em-
powt^rs him only to settle on a coast possessed by savage and barbarous inhabi-
tants. Was it not the most evident breach of orders to disembark on a coast pos-
sessed by Spaniards ? 6- His orders to Keymis, when he sent him up the river,
are contained in his own apology, and from them it appears that he knew (what
was unavoidable) that the Spaniards would resist, and Would oppose the English
landing and taking possession of the country. His intentions, therefore, were
hostile from the begiimihg. 7. Without provocation, and even when at adistance,
he gave Keymis orders to dislodge the Spaniards from their own town. Could
any enterprise be more hostile ? And, considering the Spaniards as allies to the
nation, could any enterprise be more criminal ? Was he not the aggressor, even
though it should be true that the Spaniards fired upon his men at landing ? It ia
said he killed three or four hundred of them. Is that so light a matter? 8. In
his hotter to the king, and in liis apology, he grounds his defence on former hos-
tilities exercised by the Spaniards against other companies of Englishmen. These
599
600 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
ar6 accounted for by the ambiguity of the treaty between the nations And it is
Sain that though these might possibly he reasons for the kings declaring war
Sist that nation, they c5uld never entitle Kaleigh to declare war and withoiifi
tny cominlssion, or'contrary to his coniini sion to invade theSpanish Bettlem^.ts.
He pretends, indeed, that peace was never made with Spam in the iiidies , a most
absurd notion ! The chief hurt which the Spaniards could receive tioni England
■was in the Indies ; and they never would have made peace at aliif hostilities had
been sLill to be continued on these settlements. By secret agreement, the Ji,ng-
lish were still allowed to support the Dutch, even after the treaty of peace If
thev had also been allowed to invade the Spaidsh settlements, tne treaty had been
a full peace to England, while the Spaniards were still exposed to thetulieltects
of wai- 9. If the claim to the property of that counLry, as tirst discoverers, was
eood, in opposition to prevent settlement, as Kaleigh pretend?, why was it »ot la-id
before the king, with all its circumstances, and submitted lo his judgment C 10.
Kalei'di's force is acknowledged by himself to have been insufficient to sujiport
him in the possession of St. Thomas against the power of which Spam was mas-
ter on that coast ; yet it was suflicienL, as he owns, to take by surprise and plun-
der twenty towns. It was not, therefore, his design to settle, but to plunder. By
these confessions, which I have here brought together, he plainly betiays him-
self. 11. Why did he not stay and work his mine, as at tirst he projected ? He
apprehended that the Spaniards would be upon him with a greater foice. But
before he left England, he laiew that this must be the case if he invaded any part
of the Spanish colonies. His intention, therefore, never was to settle, but only
to plunder. 12. He acknowledges that he knew neither the depth nor riehes of
the mine, but only that there was some ore there. Would he have ventured aH
his fortune and credit on so precarious a foundation ? 13. Would the other ad-
venturers, if made acquainted with this, have risked everything to attend him ?
Ought a fleet to have been equipped for an experiment ? Was tliLTe not plainly
an imposture in the management of this affair? 14. He says to Keymis, in his
orders, " Bring but a basketful of ore, aiid it will satisfy the king that my project
was notimagiuarj'." This was easily done f:om the Spanish mines; and he seems
to have been chiefly displeased at Keymis for not attempting it. Such a view
was a premeditated apology to cover his cheat. 15. The king, in his Declaration,
imputes it to Kaleigh that as soon as he was at sea he immediately fell into sut:h
uncertain and doubtful talk of his mine, and said that it wouldbesutlicientif he
brought home a basketful of ore. From the circumstance last mentioned, it ap-
pears that this imputation was not without reason. 16. There are many otmC
circumstances of great weigiit in the king's Declaration : that Raleigh, when h!
fell down to Plymouth, took no pioneers with him, which he always declared to
be his intention ; that he was nowise provided with instruments for working a
jnine, but had a suflicient stock of warlike stores ; that young Kaleigh, in at-
tacking the Spaniards, employed the words which, in the narration, 1 have put
inhiamoutli; that the mine was movable, and shifted as he saw convenient;
not to mention many other public facts, which prove him to have been highly
criminal against his companions as well as his country. Howel, in his Letters,
says that there lived in London, in 1645, an oihcer, a man of honor, who asserted
that he heard young Raleigh speak these words (vol. ii. letter 63). That was a
time when there was no interest in maintaining such a fact. 17. Ralei^i's ac-
count of his tirst voyage to Guiana proves him to have been a man capable of tlie
most extravagant credulity or most impudent imposture; so ridiculous are the
stories which he tells of the inca's chimerical empire in the midst of Guiftna ; the
rich city of El Dorado, or Manao, two days* journey in length, and shining with
gold and silver ; the old Peruvian prophecies in favor of "the English, who, he
flays, were expressly named as the deliverers of that country iong before any
European had evertnuched there ; the Amazons, or republic of women ; and, in
general, the vast and incredible riches which he saw on that continent, where
nobody has yet found any treasures ! This whole narrative is a proof that he was
extremely defective either in solid understanding or morals, or both. No man's
character, indeed, seems ever to have been carried to such extremes as Raleiali's
by the opposite passions of envy and pity. In the former part of his life, when
he was active and lived in the world, and was probably best known, he was the
object of universal hatred and detestation throughout England ; in the latter
part, when shut up in prison, he became, much more unreasonably, the object of
great love and admiration.
As to the circumstances of the narrative, that Raleigh's pardon was refused
Lira, that his former sentence was purposely kept in force against him, and that
he went out under these express conditions, they may be supported by the fol-
lowing authoraties ; 1. The king's word and that of six pnvy-counciUors, who af-
firm itforfact. 2. The nature of the thing. If no suspicion had been entertained
of his intentions, a pardon would never have been refused to a man to wnoia
KOTES, 601
authority was intrusted. 3. The words of the commission itself, where he is
simply styled Sir W alter Raleigh, and i\ot fait h/iU and wcU-beloved, accoi ding to
uie usual and never-failing style on suuh uccasious. 4. In all the leiLers wlach
he wrote home to Sir italpli Win wood, and to iiis own wife, he always considers
himself as a person unpardoned and liable to the law. He seems, indeed, imme-
diately upon the failure of his enterprise, to have become desperate, and to have
expected the fate wliich he met with.
It is pretended that the king gave intelligence to the Spaniards of Raleigh's
Sroject, as if he had needed to lay a plot for destroying a man whose life had
_ een fourteen years, and still was, in bis power. The Spaniards wanted no other
intelligence to be on their guard than the known and public fact of lialeigli's ar-
mament; and there was no reason wliy the king should conceal from thum tlie
project of a settlement which Kaleigh pretended, and the king believed, to be un-
tireiy innocent.
The king s chief blame seems to have lain in bis negligence in allowing Ka-
leigh to depart without a more exact scrutiny ; but for this he apologizes by say-
ing that sureties were required for the good behavior of Raleigh and all iiis as-
sociates in the enterpnse, but that they ga\e in bonds for each other— a cheat
which was not perceived till they had sailed, and which increased the suspicion
of bad intentions.
Perhaps the king ought also to have granted Raleigh a pardon for his old
trefUion, and to have tried him anew for his new otfences. His punishment in
that case would not only have been just, but conducted in a just and unexcep-
.tionable manner. But we are told that a ridiculous opinion at that time prevailed
iE the nation (and it is plainly supposed by Sir Walter in his apology) that, by
treaty, war was allowed with the Spaniards in the Indies, thuugh peace was
made in Europe ; and, while that notion took place, no jury would have found
Ealeigh guilty. So that had not the king punished him upon the- Old sentence,
the Spaniards would have had a just cause of complaint against the king, sufli-
cient to have produced a war, at least to have destioyed all cordiality between
the nations.
This explication I thought necessary, in order to clear up the story of Raleigh,
which, though very obvious, is generally mistaken in so gross a manner that I
scarcely know its parallel in the English history.
NOTE [C], p. 48.
This Parliament is remarkable for being the epoch in which were first regu-
larly formed, though without acquiring these denominations, the parties of court
and country— parties which have ever since continued, and which, while they
oft threaten the lotal dissolution of the government, are the real tause of its per-
manent life and vigor. In the ancient feudal constitution, of which the English
partook with other European nations, there was a mixture not of authority and
liberty, which we have since enjoyed in this island, and which now subsist U)ii-
formly together, hut of authority and anarchy, which perpetually shocked with
each other, and which took place alternately, according as circumstances were
more or less favorable to either of them. A Parliament composed of bai barians,
summoned from their fields and forests, uninstructed by study, conversation, or
travel ; ignorant of their own laws and history, and unacquainted with the situa-
tion of all foreign nations ; a Parliament caJled precariously by the king, and
dissolved at hih pleasure ; sittuig a few days, debating a few points prepaied for
them, and whose members were impatient to return to their own castles, where
alone they were great, and to the chase, which was their favorite amusement —
such a Parliament was very little fitted to enter into a discussion of all the ques-
tions of government, and to share, in a regular manner, the legal administration.
The name, tlie authority of the king alone appeared in the common course of
government ; in extraordinary emergencies he assumed, with still better reason,
the sole direction. Tlie imperfect and unformed laws left, in everything, a lati*
tude of interpretation ; and when the ends pursued by the monarch were, in gen-
eral, agreeable to his subjects, little scruple or jealousy was entertained with re-
gard to the regularity of the means. During the reign of an able, fortunate, or
popular prince, no member of either House, much less of the Lower, durst think
of entering into a formed party in opposition to the court ; sinc6 the disbolution
of the Parliament must, in a few days, leave him unprotected to the vengeance
of his sovereign, and to those stretches of prerogative which were then so easily
made in order to punish an obnoxious subject. l)urhig an unpopular and weak
reign, the current commonly ran so strong against the monarch that none durst
enlist themselves in the court party; or, if the prince was able to engage any
considerable barons on his side, tlie question was decided with arms in thu fielcl,
not by debates or arguments in a senate or assembly. And, upon the whole, the
602 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
chief circumstance which, during ancient times, retained the prince in any legal
form of administration, was that the sword, by the nature of the feudal tenures,
remained still in the hands of his subjects ; and this irregular and dangerous
check had much more influence than the regular and methodical limits of the
laws and constitution. As the nation could not be compelled, it was necessary
that every public measure of consequence, particularly thatot levying new taxes,
should seem to be adopted by common consent and approbation.
The princes of the house of Tudor, partly by the vigor of their administration,
partly by the concurrence of favorable circumstances, had been able to establish
a more regular system of government ; but they drew the constitution so near to
despotism as diminished extremely the authority of the Parliament. The senate
became, in a great degree, the organ of royal will and pleasure ; opposition would
have been regarded as a species of rebellion ; and even religion, the most dau-
geroiis article in wliich innovations could be introduced, had admitted, in the
course of a few years, four several alterations, from the authority alone of the
sovereign. The Parliament was not then the road to honor and preferment; the
talents of popular intrigue and eloquence were uncultivated and unknown ; and
though that assembly still preserved authority, and retained the pri\ilegeof
malting laws and bestowing public money, the members acquired uot, upon that
account, either with prince or people, much more weight and consideration.
What powers were necessary for conducting the machine of government, the
king was accustomed, of himself, to assume. His own revenues supplied him
with money sufficient for his onlinary expenses; and when extraordinary emer-
gencies occurred, che prince needed not to solicit votes in Parliament, either for
making laws or imposing taxes, both of which were now become requisite for
public interest and preservation.
The security of individuals, so necessary to the liberty of popular councils, was
totally unknown in that age. And as no despotic princes, scarcely even the East-
ern tyrants, rule entirely without t)ie concurrence of some assemblies, which
supply both advice and authority, little but amercenary force seems then to have
been wanting towards the establisLment of a simple monarchy in England. The
militia, though more favorable to regal authority than the feudal institutions,
wa^ much inferior, in this respect, to disciplined armies ; and if it did not pre-
serve 1) berty to the people, it preserved at least the power, if ever the inclination
should aiise, of recovering it.
But 60 low, at that time, ran the inclination towards liberty that Elizabeth,
the last of that arbitrary line, herself no less arbitrary, was yet the most re-
nowned and most popular of all the sovereigjis that had tilled the throne of Eng-
land, it was natural for James to take the government as he found it, and to
pursue her measures, which he heard so much applauded ; nor did his penetra-
tion extend so far ca to discover tliat neither his circumstances nor his character
could support so extensive an authority. His narrow revenues and little frugality
began now to render him dependent on his people, even in the ordinary course of
administration; their increasing knowledge discovered to them that adva^itage
which they had obtained, and made them sensible of the inestimable value of
civil liberty; and as he possessed too little di§;nity to command respect, and too
much good nature to impress fear, a new spirit discovered itself every day in the
Parliament ; and a party, watchful of a free constitution, was regularly formed
in the House of Commons.
But, notwithstanding these advantages acquired to liberty, so extensive was
royal authority, and so firmly established in all iLs parts, that it is probable the
patriots of that age would have despaired of ever resisting it had tliey not been
stimulated by religious motives, which inspire a courage unsurmountable by any
human obstacle.
The same alliance which has ever prevailed between kingly powerand eccle-
siastical authority was now fully established in England; and while the prince
assisted the clergy in suppressing schismatics and innovators, the clergy, in re-
turn, inculcated the doctrine of an unreserved submission and obedience to the
civil magistrate. The genius of the Church of Englandj so kindly to monarchy,
forwarded the confederacy ; its submission to episcopal jurisdiction ; its attach-
ment to ceremonies, to order, and to a decent pomp and splendor of worship ; and
in a word, its alHiiitv to the tame superstition of the Catholics rather than to the
wild fanaticism of the Puritans.
On the other hand, opposition to the Church, and the persecutions under
which they labored, were sufficient to throw the Puritans into the country party,
and to beget political principles little favorable to the high pretensions of the
sovereign. The spirit, too, of enthusiasm, bold, daring, and uncontrolled, strongly
disposed their minds to adopt republic an tenets, and inclined tliem to arrogate,
in their actions and conduct, the same liberty, wliich they assumed in their rap-
turous flights and ecstasies. Ever since the first origin of that sect, through the
NOTES. 603
whole reign of Elizabeth as well as of James, puritanical principles had been
understoua in a double sense, and expressed the opinions fa\'orable both lo polit-
ical and to ecclesiastical liberty ; and hs the court, in order to discredit all par-
liamentary opposition, affixed the denomination of Puritans to its antagonists,
the religious Puritans willingly adopted this idea, which was so advantageous to
them, and which confounded tlieir cause with that of the patriots, or coimtiy
Earty. Thus were the civil and ecclesiastical factions regularly formed ; and the
umor of the nation during that age running strongly towards fanalical extrava-
gances, the spirit of civil liberty gradually revived from its lethargy, and by
means of its religious associate, from which it reaped more advantage than honor,
it secretly enlarged its dominion over the greater part of the kingdom. '"
[This note was in the tirst editions a part of the text ; but the author omitted
it, in order to avoid, as much as possible, the style of dissertation in the body of
his History. The passage, however, contains views so important that he thought
it might be admitted as a note.]
NOTE [D], p. 55.
This protestation is so remarkable that it may not be improper to give it in its
own words :*'The Common:? now assembled in Parliament, being justly occasion-
ed thereunto, concerning sundry liberties, franchises, and privileges of Parlia-
mentj among others here mentioned, domake this protestation following : That
the liberties, francliises. and jurisdictions of Parliament ai-e the ancient and un-
doubted birthright and inheritance of the subjeC'S of England ; and that the ur-
gent aiid arduous aftaiis concerning the king, state, and defence of the realm,
and of the Church of h-nyland, and the maintenance and making of laws, and
rediess of mischiefs and grievances which daily happen within this realm, are
proper subjects and matter of council and debate in Parliament ; and that in the
handling and pvoceecling of those businesses, every member of the House of Par-
liament nath, and of ri^it ought to have, freedom of speech to propound, treat,
reason, and bring to conclusion the same ; and that the Commons in Parliament
have like liberty and freedom to treat of these matters, in such order as in their
judgment shall seem fittest ; and that every member of the said House hath like
freedom from all impeachment, imprisonment, and molestation (other than by
censure of the House itself), for or concerning any speaking, reasoning, or de-
claring of any matter or matters touching the Parliament or Parliament business;
and that if any of tlie said members be complained of, or questioned for anything
done or said in Parliament, the same is to be shown to the king by the advice and
assent of all the Commons assembled in Parliament, before the king gave cre-
dence to any private information."— Franklyn, p. 65. Eushworth, vol. i. p. 53.
Kennet, p. 747. Coke, p. 77.
NOTE [E],p. 74.
The moment the prince embarked at St. Andero's, he said to those about him
that it was folly in the Spaniards to use him so ill and allow him to depart— a
proof ihat the duke bad made him believe they were insincere in the affair of the
marriage and the Palatinate . for as to his reception in other respects, it had
been altogether unexceptionable. Besides, had not the prince believed the
Spaniards to be insincere, he had ]io reason to quarrel with them, though Buck-
ingham had. It appears, therefore, that Charles himself must have been de-
ceived. The multiplied delays of the dispensation, though they rose from acci-
dent, afforded Buckingham a plausible pretext for charging the Spaniards with
insincerity.
NOTE [F], p. 76.
Among other particulars, he mentions a sum of eighty thousand pounds bor-
rowed from the King of Denmark. In a former speech to the Parliament, he told
them that he had expended five hundred thousand pounds in the cause of the
Palatine, besides the voluntary contribution given him by the people. Se^ Frank-
lyn, p. 50. But, what is more extraordinary, tlie treasurer, in order to show his own
good services, boasts to the Parliament that, by his contrivance^ sixty thousand
pounds bail been sa\ ed in the article of exchange in the sums remitted to the Pala-
tine. This seems a great sum, nor is it fasy to conceive whence the king could
procure such va-^t sums as would require a sum so considerable to be paid in ex-
change. From the whole, however, it appears that the king had been far from
neglecting thp, interests of his daugliter and son-in-law, and had even gone far
beyond what his narrow revenue could afford.
604 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
NOTE [G], p.76-
How little this principle had prevailed during any former period of the Eng-
lish government, particularly during the last reign, which was certainly not so
perfect a model of liberty as most writers would represent it, will easily appear
from many passages in the history of that reign. But the ideas of men were much
changed during about twenty years of a gi-ntle and peafteful administration.
The Commons, though James, of himself, had recalled all patents of monopolies,
frere not contented without a law against them, and a declaratory law too— which
was gaining a great point, and establishing principles very favorable to liberty —
but tney were extremely grateful when Elizabeth, upon petition (after having
once refused their requests), recalled a few of the most oppressive patents, and
employed some soothing expressions towards them.
The Parliament had surely reason, when they confessed, in the seventh of
James, that he allowed them more freedom of debate than "even was indulged by
any of his predecessors. His indulgence in this particular, joined to his easy
temper, was probably one cause of the great power assumed by the Comraont*.
Monsieur de la Boderie, in his Despatches, vol. i. p. 449, mentions the liberty of
speech in the House of Commons as a new practice-
NOTE [H], p. 81.
Kymer, vol. xviii. p. 224. It is certain that the young Prince of "Wa''es. after-
wards Charles II., had Protestant governors from his early infancy ; lirst the
Earl of Newcastle, then the Marquis of Heriford. The king, in his memorial to
foreign churches, after the commencement or the civil wars, insists on his care
in educating his children in the Protestant religion, as a proof Uiat he was no-
wise inclined to the Catholic— Rush worth, vol. v. p. 7.32. It can scarcely, there-
fore, be questioned but this article, which had so odd an appearance, was in-
serted only to amuse the pope, and was never intended by either party to be
executed.
NOTE [I], p. 89.
" Monarchies," according to Sir Walter Raleigh, " are of two sorts, touching
their power or authority : viz., 1. Entire, where the whole power of ordering all
state matters, both in peace and war, doth by law and custom appertain to the
prince, as in the English kingdom ; where the prince hath the power to make laws,
league, and war ; to create magistrates ; to pardon life ; of appeal, etc. Though,
to give a contentment to the other degrees, ihey have a suffrage in mnking laws,
yet ever subject to the prince's pleasure and negative will. 2. Limited or re-
strained, that hath no full power in all the points and matters of state, as the
military king, that hath not the sovereignty in time of peace, as the making of
laws, etc., but in war only, as the Polonian king."— Maxims of State.
And a little after : " In every just state, some part of the government is, or
ought to be, imparted to the people ; as, in a kingdom, a voice and suffrage in
making laws ; and sometimes also of levying of arms (if the charge be great, and
the prince forced to borrow help of his subjects), the matter rightly may be pro-
pounded to a Parliament, that the tax may seem to have proceeded from them-
selves. So consultations and some proceedings in judicial matters may, in part,
be referred to them. The reason, lest, seeing themselves to be in no immber, nor
of reckoning, they mislike the state or government." This way of reasoning dif-
fers little from that of King James, who considered the privileges of the Parlia^
ment as matters of grace and indulgence more than of inheritance. It is remark-
able that Raleigh was thought to lean towards the puritanical party notwithstand-
ing these pcjsitions. But ideas of government change much in different times.
Raleigh's sentiments on this head are still more openly expressed in his Pre-
rogatives of Parliaments, a work not published till after his death. It is a dia-
logue between a courtier or councillor and a country justice of peace, who repre-
sents the party, and defends the highest notions of liberty which the principles
of that age would bear. Here is a passage of it : •' Councillor. That which is done
by the king with the advice of his private or privy council is done by the king's
absolute power. Justice. And by whose power is it done in Parliament but hy
the king's absolute power? Mistake it not, my lord: the three estates do but ad-
vise, as the privy council doth ; which advice, if the king embrace, it becomes
the king's own act in the one, and the king's law in the other," etc.
The Earl of Clare, in a private letter to his son-in-law, Sir Thomas Wentworth,
afterwards Earl of Strafford, thus expresses himself : *' "We li\e under a preroga-
tive government, where book law submits to lex loQitevs." He spoke from nis
ovni and all his ancestors* experience. There was no single instance of power
which a King of England might not, at that time, exert on pretence of necessity
NOTES. 605
or expediency ; the continuance alone or frequent repetition of arbitrary admin-
istration might prove dangerous for want of force lo support it. It is remarkuble
that this letter of the Earlof Clare was written in the tirst year of Charles's reign,
and consequently must be meant of the general genius of the government, not
the sipirit or temper of the monarch. See Strafford's Letters, vol. i. p. 32. From
another letter in Ihe same collection (vol. i. p. 10) it appears that the council
sometimes assumed the power of forbidding persons disagreeable to the court to
stand in the elections. This authority they could exert in some instances ; but
we are not thence to infer that they could shut the door of that House to every
one who was not acceptable to them. The genius of the ancient government re-
posed more trust in the king than toenLertain any such suspicion ; and it allowed
scattered instances of such a kind as would have been totally destructive of the
constitution had they been continued without interruption.
I have not met with any English writer in that age who speaks of England as
a limited monarchy, but as an absolute one, where the people huve many privi-
leges. That is no contradiction. In all European monarchies the people have
privileges ; but whether dependent or independent on the will of the monarch, is
a question that, in most governments, it is. better to forbear. Surely that question
was not determined before the ageof James. The rising spirit of the Parliament,
together with the king's love of general speculative principles, brought it from
its obscurity, and made it be commonly canvassed. The strongest testimony tbat
I remember from a writer of James's age in favor of English liberty is in Car-
dinal Bentivoglio, a foreigner, who mentions the English government as similar
to that of the Low Country Provinces under their princes, rather than to that of
France or Spain. Englishmen were not so sensible that their prince was limited,
because they were sensible that no individual had any security against a stretch
of prerogative ; but foreigners, by comparison, could perceive that these stretches
w^ere at that time, from custom or other causes, less frequent in England than in
otlier monarchies. Philip de Comines, too, remarked the English constitution to
be more popular in his time than tbat of France. But in a paper written by a
patriot in lt>27, it is remarked that the freedom of speech in Parliament had
been lost in England since the days of Comines. See Franklyn, p. ^38. Here
is a stanza of Malherbe's Ode to Mary de Medicis, the queen-regent written iu
1614;
"Entre les rois k qui cet kge
Doit son principal ornement,
Ceux de la Tamise et du Tage
Font louer leur gouvernenient :
Mais en desi calmes provinces,
Oil le peuple adore les princes,
Et met au gr6 le plus haut
L'honneur du sceptre legitime,
S^auroit-on excuser le crime
De ne regner pas comme il faut ?"
The English as well as the Spaniards are here pointed out as much more obedient
subjects than the French, and much more tractable and submissive to their
princes. Though this passage be taken from a poet, every man of judgment will
allow its authority to be decisive. The character of a national government
cannot be unknown in Europe, though it changes sometimes very suddenly.
Machiavel, in hie Dissertations on Livy, savs repeatedly that France was the
most legal and most popular monarchy then in Europe.
NOTE [K], p. 89.
Passive obedience is expressly and zealously inculcated in the Homilies, com-
posed anil published by authority, in the reign of Queen EMzabeth. The convo-
cation which met iji the very fir-.t year of tlie king's reign voted as hip;h monarc h-
ical principles as are contained in the decrees of the University of Oxford during
the rule of the Tories. These principles, so far from being deemed a novelty in-
troduced by James's influence, passed so smoothly that no historian has taken
notice of them ; they were never the subject of controverHy or dispute or dis-
course ; and it is on]y by means of Bi.-hop Overall's Convocation book, printed
near seventy years after, that we are acquainted with them. Would James, lyho
;wa8 so cautious, and even timid, have ventured to begin his reign with a bold
stroke, wbich would have given just ground of .-jealouBV to his subjects ? It ap-
pears from that monarch's Basilicon Ooron, written while he was in Scotland,
that the rep^ibliean ideas of the origin of power from th« people were at that time
esteemed puritanical novelties. The patriarchal scheme, it is remarkable, is in-
culcated in those votes of the convocation preserved by Overall ; nor wasFilmer
the first inventor of those absurd notions.
606 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
NOTE [L], p. 104.
> That of the honest historian Stowe seems not to have been of this number.
" The great bleysings of God," says he, *' through increase of wealth in the coin-
mon subjects of this land, especially upon the citizens of London ; such within
men's memory, and chieliy within these few years of peace, that, except tiiere
were now due mention of some sort made thereof, it would in time to come be
held incredible," etc. In another place, " Among the manifold tokens and signs
of the inlinite blessings of Almighty God bestowed upo» this kingdom, by the
wondroas and merciful establishment of peace ^ithin ourselves, and the full bene-
fit of concord with all Chrislian nations and others; of all wnich graces let no
man dare to presume he can speak too much ; whereof in truth there can never
be enough said, neither was there ever any people less considerate and less th nk-
ful than at this time, being not willing to endure the memory of their present
happiness ; as well as in the ujiiverbal increase of commerce and tratlic through-
out the kingdom, great building of royal ships and by private merchants, tlie re-
peopliiig of cities, towns and villages, besides the discernible and sudden increase
of fair and costly buildings, as well within the city of Loudoii as the suburbs
thereof, especially within these twelve years/' etc.
NOTE [M], p. 131.
By a speech of Sir Simon B'Ewes, in the first year of the Long Parliament, it
clearly appears that the nation never had, even to that time, been rightly in-
formed concerning the transactions of the Spanish negotiation, and stillbelieved
the courtof Madrid to have been altogether insincere in their professions. What
reason, upon that supposition, had they to blame either the prince or Buckingham
for their conduct, or for the narrative'delivered to the Parliament. Thisisacap-
ital fact, and ought to be well attended to. D'Ewes's speech is in Nalson, vol. ii,
p. 3G8. No author or historian of that age mentions the discovery of Bucking-
ham's impostures as a cause of disgust in the Parlianienc. Whitlocke, p. 1, only
says that the Commons began to suspect that it had been spleeit in Buchinc,hini,
not zeal for public good, which had induced him to break the Spanish match — a
clear proof that his nilsehood was not suspected. Wilson, p. 780, says that Buck-
ingham lost his popularity after Bristol arrived, not because that nobleman dis-
covered to the world the falsehood of his narrative, but because he proved that
Buckingham, while in Spain, had professed himself a papist ; which is false, and
which "was never said by Bristol. In all the debates which remain, not the lenst
hint is ever given that any falsehood was suspected in the narrative. I shall
further add that even it the Parliament had discovered the deceit in Bucking-
ham's narrative, this ought not to have altered their political measures, or made
them refuse supply to the king. They had supposed it practicable to wrest the
Palatinate by arms from the house of Austria ; tlieyhad represented it as prudent
to expend the blood and ti'casure of the nation in such an enterprise ; they had
believed that the King of Spain never had any sincere intention of restoringthat
principality. It is certain that he had not now any such intention ; and though
there was reason to suspect that this alteration in his views had proceeded from
tlie ill conduct of Buckingham, yet past errors could not be retrieved ; and the
nation was undoubtedly in the same ait nation which the Parliament had ever sup-
posed, when they so much harassed their sovereign by their impatient, importu-
nate, and even unduliful solicitations. To which we may add that Charles him-
self was certainly deceived by Buckingham when he corroborated his favorite's
narrative by his testimony. Party historians are somewhat inconsistent in their
representations of these transactions': they represent the Spaniards as totally in-
sincere, that they may reproacli James with cvedulity in being so long deceived
by them ; they represent ihem as sincere, that they may reproach the king, the
prince, and the duke with falsehood in their narrative to the Parliament. The
truth is, they were insincere at ti.rst ; but the reasons, proceedijig from bigotry,
were not suspected by Jauies, and were at last overcome. They became sincere ;
but tlie prince, deceived \>y^ the many unavoidable causes of delay, believed that
they were still deceiving him.
NOTE [N], p. 158.
This petition is of so great importance that we shall here give it at length :
•' Humbly show unto our sovereign Lord the King, the Lords spiritual and tempo-
ral, and Commons, in Pailiament assembled, that whereas it is declared and en-
acted by a statute made in the time of the reign of King Edward I., commonly
called Statutum de tatlaglo )ion covcedendn, that no tallage or aid shall be levied
by the king or his heirs in this realm, without the good-will and. assent of the
NOTES. 607
archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, knights, burgesses, and other the freemen of
the commonalty of this realm ; and, by authority of Parliament lioldeii in the tive-
and-twentieth year of the reign of King Kdward III., it Is declared and enacted
that, from thenceforth, no person shall be compelled to make any loans to the
king against his will, because such loans were against reason and the franchise
of the hmd ; and, by other laws of this realm it is provided that none should be
charged by any charge or imposition called a benevolence, or by such-like charge;
by which the statutes before mentioned, and other the good laws and statutes of
this realm, your subjects have inherited this freedom, that they should not be
compelled to contribute to any tax, tallage, aid, or other like charge not set by
common consent in Parliament.
*' II. Yet, nevertheless, of late divers commissions directed to sundry commis-
sioners in several counties, wir.li instructions, have issued ; by means whereof
your people have been in divers places assembled, and required to lend certain
sums of money unto your majesty ; and many of them, upon their refusal so to do,
have had an oath administered unto them not warrantable by the laws or stat-
utes of this realm, and have been constrained to become bound to make appear-
ance and give attendance before your privy council, and in other places, and
others of them have been therefore imprisoned, confined, and sundry other w^ys
molested and disquieted ; and divers other charges have been laid and levied
upon your people in several counties, by lord-lieutenants, deputy-lieutenants,
commissioners for musters, justices of peace, and others, by command or direction
from your majesty, or your privy council, against the laws and free customs of
this realm.
" 111. And whereas, also, by the statute called The Great Charter of the Liber-
ties of England, it is declared and enacted that no freeman may be taken or im-
prisoned, or be disseized of his freehold or liberties, or his free customs, or be
outlawed or exiled, or in any manner destroyed, but by the lawful judgment of
his peers, or by the law of the land.
" IV. And in the eighth-and-twentieth yeai of the reign of King Edward III.
it was declared and enacted, by authority of Parliament, that no man, of what
estate or condition that he be, should he put out of his land' or tenements, nor
taken, nor imprisoned, nor disinherited, nor put to death, without being brought
to answer by due process of law.
*' V. Nevertheless, against the tenor of the said statutes and other the good
laws and statutes of your realm to that end provided, divers of your subjects have
of late been impiisoned without an^ cause shown ; and when, for their deliver-
ance, they were brought before ju^tice by your majesty's wnts of habeas corpus^
there to undergo and receive as the court should order, and their keepers com-
manded to certify the causes of their detainer, no cause was certilied but that
they were detained by your majesty's special command, signified by the lords of
your privy council, and yet were returned back to seveial piisoiis, without l»eing
charged with anytning to which they might make answer according to the law.
" VI. And whereas of late great companies of soldiers and mariners have been
dispersed into divei-s counties of the reaim; and the inhabitants, against their
wills, have been compelled to receive them into their houfscs, and there to suffer
them to sojourn, against the laws and cusioms of this realm, and to the great
grievance and vexation of the people.
" VII. And whereas, also, by authority of Parliament,in the five-and- twentieth
year of the reign of King Edward III., it is deilared and enacted that no man
shall be forejudged of life or limb a<_'ainst the form of the Great Charter and law
of the land ; and, by the said Great Charter, and other the laws and statutes of
this your realm, no man ought to be judged to death but by the laws established
in this your realm, either by the customs of the same realm or by acts of Parlia-
ment ; and whereas no offender, of what kind soever, is exempted from the pro-
ceedings to be used and punishments to be inflicted by the laws and statutes of
this your realm ; nevertheless, of late, divers commissions, under your majesty's
great seal, huve issued forth, by which certain persons have been assigned and
appointed commissioners, wi'h power and authority to proceed within the land,
according to the justice of martial law, against snch soldiers and mariners, or
other dissolute persons joining with them, as should commit any murder, robbery,
felony, mutiny, or other outrajje or misdemeanor whatsoever, and by such sum-
mary course and order a^ is agreeable tomattial law, and as is used in armies in
time of war, to proceed to the trial and condemnation of such offenders, and
them to cause to be executed and put to death according to the law martial.
"VIII. By pretext whereof some of your majesty's subjects have been, by
some of the said commisdoners, put to death, when and where, if by the laws and
statutes of the land they had deserved death, by the t^ame laws and statutes also
they might, and by no other ought to, have been judged and executed.
*' IX. And also sundry grievous offenders, by color thereof claiming an exemi>-
608 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
tion, hare escaped the pimislimeTits due to them hy the laws and statutes of this
your realm, hy reason that divers of your olUcers and ministers of justice have
unjustly refused or forborne to proceed against such offenders act-orUingto tiie
B.'ime laws ajid statutes, upon pretence that the said offenders were punishable
only by martial law and by authority of such commissions as aforesaid, wUicn
commissions, and all other of like nature, are wholly and directly contrary .o the
taid laws and statutes of this \ our realm. _
•* X. They do therefore humbly pray your most excellent majesty that noman
hereafter be compelled to make or yield any gift., loan, benevolence, tax, or such-
like charge, wiLhout common consent, by act of Parliament; and that none be
ca.led to make answer, or take such oath, or to give attendance, or be conlined,
or otherwise molested or disquieted, concerning the same, or for refusal thereof;
and that no freeman, in any such matter as is before mentioned, be imprisoned
or detained ; nnd that your majesty would be pleased to remove the said sokuers
and mariners, and that people may not be so bu' dened in time to come ; and that
the afore-said commissions for proceeding by martial law may be revoked and an-
nulled ; and that hereafter no commissions of like nature may issue forth, to any
person or persons whatsoever, to he executed as aforesaid, lest by colof of them
any of your majesty's subjects be destroyed or put to death contrary to the laws
and franchise of the land.
" XI. All which they most humbly pray of your most excellent majesty, as
their rights and liberties according to the laws and statutes of thi& realm ; and
that your majesty would also vouchsafe to declare that the awards, doings, and
proceedings to the prejudice of your people, in any of the premises, shall not be
drawn hereafter into consequence or example. And that your majesty would be
also graciously pleased, for the further comfort and safety of your people, to de-
clare your royal will and pleasure that in the things aforesaid all your otiicers and
ministers shall serve you according to the laws and statutes of this realm, as they
tender the honor of your majesty and the prosperity of this kingdom."— 5ia(. 17
far. cap. 14.
NOTE [O], p. 168.
The reason assigned by Sir Philip "Warwick, p. 2, for this unusual measure of
the Commons is, that they intended to deprive the crown of the prerogative,
which it had assumed, of varying the rates of the impositions, and at the same
time were resolved to cut off the new rates fixed by James. These were consid-
erable diminutions both of revenue and prerogative ; and whether they would
have there stopped, coi .sidering their present disposition, may be much doubted.
The king, it seems, and the Lords, were resolved not to trust them ; norto render
a revenue once precarious which perhaps they might never afterwards be able
to get re-established on the old footing.
NOTE [P], p. 195.
Here is a passage of Sir John Davis's Question concerning Impositions, p. 131:
" This power of laying on arbitrarily new impositions being a prerogative in point
of government as well as in point of profit, it cannot be restrained or bound by
act of Parliament ; it cannot be limited by any certain or fixed rule of law, no
morethan the course of a pilot upon the sea, who must turn the helm, or bear
higher or lower sail, according to the wind or weather ; and therefore it may be
properly said tbat the king's prerogative, in this point, is as strong as Samson : it
cannot be bound : for though an act of Parliament be made to restrain it. and the
kiii^ doth give his consent unto it, as Samson was bound with his own cmisent,
yet if the Philistines come, that is, if any just or important oct asion do ari^e, it
cannot hold or resti'ain the prerogative ; it will be as thread, and broken as easy
as the bonds of Samson. The king's prerogatives are the sunbeams of the crown,
and as inseparable from it as the sunbeams from the sun. The king's crown must
be taken from him, Samson's hair must be cut off, before his courage can be ai.y
jot abated. Hence it is that neither ihe king's act, nor any act of Parliament,
can give away his prerogative."
NOTE [Q], p. 236.
We shall here make use of the liberty, allowed in a note, to expatiate a little
., on the present subject. It must be confessed that the king, in tliis declaration,
touched upon that circumstance in the English constitution which it is most diffi-
cult, or rather altogether impossible, to regulate by laws, and which must be gov-
erned by certain delicate ideas of propriety and decency rather than by any exact
rule or prescription. To deny the Parliament all right- of remonstrating against
NOTES. 609
what they esteem grievances were to reduce that assembly to a total insignifi-
cancy, and to deprive the people of every advantage which they could reap irora
popular councils. To complain of the Parliament's employing the power of tax-
ation as the means of extorting concessions from their sovereign were to expect
that they would entirely disarm themselves, and renounce the sole expedient pro-
Wided by the constitution for insuring to the Idngdora a just and legal adminis-
tration. In different periods of English story there occur instances of their re-
monstrating with tbeir princes in the freest manner, and sometimes of their re-
fusing supply, when disgusted with any circumstance of public conduct. It is,
however, certain that this power, though essential to parliaments, may easily be
abused, as well by the frequency and minuteness of their remonstrances, as by
their intrusion into every part of the king's counsels and determinations. Under
color of advjce, they may give disguised orders ; and in complaining of griev-
ances they may draw to themselves every power of government. Whatever
measure is embraced without consulting them may be pronounced an oppression
of the people ; and till corrected, they may refuse the most necessary supplies to
their indigent sovereign, From the very nature of this parliamentary liberty,
it is evident that it must be left unbounded by law j for who can foretell how
frequently grievances may occur, or what part of administration maybe affected
by them ? From the nature, too, of the human frame, it may be expected that
this liberty would be exerted in its full extent, and no branch of authority be al-
lowed to remain unmolested in the hands of the prince. Eor, will the weak lim-
itations of respect and decorum be sufficient to restrain human ambition, which
so frequently breaks through all the prescriptions of law and justice ?
But here it is observable that the wisdom of the English constitution, or rather
the concurrence of accidents, has provided, in different periods, certain irregular
checks to this privilege of Parliament, and thereby maintained in some tolerable
measure the dignity and authority of the crown.
In the ancient constitution, before the beginning of the seventh century, the
meetings of Parliament were precarious, ana were not frequent. The sessions
were short ; and the members had no leisure, either to get acquainted with each
other or with public business. The ignorance of the age made men more sub-
missive to that authority which governed them. And, above all, the large de-
mesnes of the crown, with the small expense of government during that period,
rendered the |)iince almost independent, and taught the Parliament to preserve
great submission and duty towards him.
In our present constitution, many accidents, whichhave rendered governments
everywhere, as well as in Great Britain, much more burdensome than formerly,
have thrown into the hands of the crown the disposal of a large revenue, and have
enabled the king, by the private interest and ambition of the members, to re-
sti'ain the public interest and ambition of the body. While the opposition (for
we must still have an opposition, open or disguised) endeavors to draw eveiy
branch of administration under the cognizance of Parliament, the courtiers re-
serve a part to the disposal of the crown ; and the royal prerogative, though de-
prived of its ancient power, still maintains a due weight in the balance of the
constitution.
It was the fate of the house of Stuart to govern England at a period when the
former source of authority was already much diminished, and before the latter
began to flow in any tolerable abundance. Without a regular and tixed founda-
tion, the throne perpetually tottered ; and the prince sat upon it anxiously and
precariously. Every expedient used by James and Charles, in order to support
their dignity, we have seen attended with sensible inconveniences. The majesty
of the crown, derived from ancient powere and prerogatives, procured respect,
and checked the approaches of insolent intruders ; but it begat in the king so
high an idea of his own rank and station as made him incapable of stooping to
popular courses, or submitting in any degree to the control of Pai'liament. The
alliance with the hierarchy strengthened law by the sanction of religion ; but it
enraged the puritanical party and exposed the prince to the attacks of enemies,
numerous, violent, and iinplacable. The memory, too, of these two kings, from
like causes, has been attended, in some degree, with the same infelicity which
pursued them during the whole course of their lives. Though it must be con-
fessed that their skiU in government was not proportioned to the extreme deli-
cacy of their situation, a sufficient indulgence has not been given them, and all
the blame, by several historians, has been unjustly thrown on their side. Their
violations of law, particularly those of Charles, are, in some few instances, trans-
gressions of a plain limit which was marked out to royal authority. But the en-
croachments of the Commons, though in the beginning less positive and deter-
minate, are no less discernible by good judges, and were equally capable of
destroying Lne just balance of the constitution. While they exercised the powers
transmitted to them in a manner more independent and less compliant than had
Vol. IV.— 39
610 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
ever before been practised, the kings were, perhaps imprudently, but. as they
imagined, from necessity, tempted to assume powers which had scarcely ever
been exercised, or had been exercised in a different manner, by the crown. And
from the shock of these opposite pretensions, together with religious controversy,
arose all the factions, convulsions, and disorders which attended that period.
[This note was, in the lirst editions, a part of the text.]
NOTE [R], p. 280.
Mb. Carte, in his Life of the Buke of Ormond, has riven us some evidenc» to
prove that this letter was entirely a f orgeJ7 of the popular leaders, in order to in-
duce the king to sacrifice Strafford. He tells us that Strafford said so to his son the
night before his execution. But there are some reasons why I adhere to the
common way of telling the stoiy. 1. The account of the forgery comes through
several hands, and from men of characters not fully known to the public— a cir-
cumstance which weakens every evidence— it is a hearsay of a hearsay. 2. It
seems impossible but young Lord Strafford miist inform the king, who would not
have failed to trace the forgery, and expose his enemies to their merited infamy.
3. It is not to be conceived but Clarendon and Whitlocke, not to mention others,
must have heard of the matter. 4. Sir George Eatcliffe, in his Life of Strafford,
tolls the story the same way that Clarendon and Whitlocke do. Would he also,
who was Strafford's intimate friend, never have heard of the forgery? It is re-
markable that this Life is dedicited or addressed to young Strafford. Wouldnot
he have put Sir George right in so material and interesting a fact?
NOTE [S], p. 281.
What made this bill appear of less consequence was, that the Parliament
voted tonnage and poundage for no longer a period than two months ; and as that
brancli was more than halt of the revenue, and the government could not pos-
sibly subsist without it, it seemed indirectly in the iiower of the Parliament to
continue themselves as long as they pleased. This, indeed, was true in the
ordinary administration of government; but on the approaches towards a civil
war, which was not then foreseen, it had been of great consequence to tlie king
to have reserved the right of dissolution, and to have endured any extremity
rather than allow the continuance of the Parliament.
NOTE [T],p. 304.
It is now so universally allowed, notwithstanding some muttering to the con-
ti'ary, that the king had no hand in the Irish rebellion that it will be superfluous
to insist on a point which seems so clear. I shall only suggest a very few argu-
ments, among an infinite number which occur. 1. Ought tlie affirmation of per-
fidious, infamous rebels ever to have passed for any authority ? 2. Nobody can
tell us what the words of the pretended commission were. That commission
which we find in Rushworth, vol. v. p. 400, and in Milton's Works, Toland's edi-
tion, is plainly an imposture ; because it pretends to be dated in October, 1641,
yet mentions facts which happened not till some months after. It appears that
the Iiish rebels, observing some inconsistency in their first forgery, were obliged
to forge this commission anew, yet could not render it coherent or probable. 3.
Nothing could be more obviously pernicious to the king's cause than the Irish re-
bellion ; because it increased his necessities and rendered him still more depend-
ent on the Parliament, who had before sufficiently shown on what terms they
would assist him. 4. 'I'he instant the king heard of the rebellion, which was a
very faw days after its commencement, he wrote to the Parliament, and gave
over to them the management of the war. Had he built any projects on that
rebellion, would he not have waited some little time to see how they would suc-
ceed ? would he presently have adopted a measure which was evidently so hurt-
ful to his authority ? 5. What can be imagined to be the king's projects? To
raise tlie Irish to arms, I suppose, and bring them over to England for his assist-
ance. But it is not plain that the king never intended to raise war in England ?
Had th;it been his intention, would he have rendered the Parliament perpetual ?
Does it noi appear, by the whole train of events, that the Parliament forced him
into the war ? 6. The king conveyed to the justices intelligence which ought to
have prevented the rebellion. 7. The Irish Catholics, in all tlieir future trans-
actions with the king, where they endeavored to excuse their insurrection, never
had the assurance to plead his commission. Even among themselves they
dropped that pretext. It appears that Sir Phelim O'Neale. cliiefly, and he only
at first, promoted that imposture. See Carte's Ormond, vol. iii. No- 100, 111, 112,
114, 115, 121, 132, 137. 8. O'Neale himself confessed the imposture on his trial
NOTES. 611
and at hia execution. See Nalson, vol. ii- p. 628. Maguire, at his execution,
made a like confession. 9. It is ridiculous to mention the justification which
Charles II. gave to the Marquis of Antrim, as if he had acted by hie father's com-
mission. Antrim had no hand in the first rebellion and the massacre ; he joined
not the rebels till two years after; it was with the king's consent, and he did
important service in sending over a body of men to Montrose.
NOTE [U], p. 334.
The great courage and conduct displayed by many of the popular leaders have
commonly inclined men to do them in one respect more honor than they deserve,
and to suppose that, like able politicians, they employed pretences which they
secretly despised, in order to serve their selfish purposes. It is, however, proba-
ble, if not certain, that they were, generally speaking, the dupes of their own
zeal. Hypocrisy, quite pure and free from fanaticism, is, perhaps, except ^mong
men fixed in a determined philosophical scepticism, then unknown, as rare as
fanaticism entirely purged from all mixture of hypocrisy. So congenial to the
human mind are religious sentiments that it is impossible to counterfeit long
these holy fervors without feeling some share of the assumed warmth ; and, on
the other hand, so precarious and temporary, from the frailty of human nature,
is the operation of these spiritual views that the religious. ecstasies, if constantly
employed, must often be counterfeit, and must be warped by those niore familiar
motives of interest and ambition which insensibly gain upon the mind. This,
indeed, seems the key to most of the celebrated characters of that age. Equally
full of fraud and of ardor, these pious patriots talked perpetually of seeking the
Lord, yet sti,ll pursued their own purposes ; and have left a memorable lesson
to posterity, how delusive, how destructive, that principle is by which they were
animated.
With regard to the people we can entertain no doubt that the controversy was,
on their part, entirely theological. The generality of the nation could never
have flown out into such fury in order to obtain new privileges and acquire
greater liberty than they and their ancestors had ever been acquainted with.
Their fatliers had been entirely satisfied with the government of Elizabeth ; why
should they have been thrown into such extreme rage against Chailes, who,
from the beginning of his reign, wished only to maintain such a governjn'ent?
And why not, at least, compound matters with him when, by all his laws, it ap-
peared tiiat he had agreed to depart from it, especially as he had put it entirely
out of his power to retract that resolution? It is in vain, therefore, to dignify
this civil war and the parliamentary authors of it by supposing it to have any other
considerable foundation than theological zeal, that great and noted source of
animosity among men. The royalists also were very commonly zealots; biit as
they were, at the same time, maintaining the established constitution, in State
as well as Church, they had an object which was natural, and which might pro-
duce the greatest passion, even without any considerable mixture of theological
fervor.
[The former part of this note was, in the first editions, a part of the text.]
NOTE [X], p. 335.
In some of these declarations, supposed to be penned by Lord Falkland, is
found the first regular definition of the constitution, according to our present
ideas of it, that occurs in any English composition ; at least any published by
authority. The three species of government— monarchical, aristocratical, and
democratical— are there plainly distinguished, and the English government is
expressly said to be none of them pure, but all of them mixed an' advantages from these controversies and inquiries; and
the royal authority itself became more secure within those provinces which were
assigned to it.
[Since the fi.rst publication of this history the sequel of Lord Clarendon has
been published, where that nobleman asserts that he himself was the author of
most of these remonstrances and memorials of the king.]
NOTE [Y], p. 353.
"Whitlocke, who was one of the commissioners, says, p. 65, " Xn this treaty the
king manifested his great parts and abilities, strength of reason, and quickness
of apprehension, with much patience in hearing what was objected against him ;
wherein he allowed all freedom, and would himself sum up the arguments and
five a most clear judgment upon them. His unliappiness was that he had a bet-
er opinion of others* judgments than of his own, though they were weaker than
his own ; and of this the Parliament commissioners nad experience, to their
great trouble. They were often waiting on the king, and debating some points
of the treaty with him until midnight, before they could come to a conclusion.
Upon one of the most material points they pressed his majesty with their
reasons and best arguments they could use to grant what they desired. The king
said he was fully satistied, and promised to give them his answer in writing,
according to their desire ; but because it was then past midnight, and too late to
put it into writing, he would have it drawn up next morning (when he com-
manded them to wait on him again), and then he would give them his answer in
writing as it was now agreed iipon. But next morning the king told them that
he had altered his mind : and some of his friends of whom tlie commissioners
inquired told them that, after they were gone, and even his council retired, some
of his bedchamber never left pressing and persuading him till they prevailed oa
him to change his former resolutions." It is difficult, however, to conceive that
any negotiation could have succeeded between the king and Parliament while
the latter insisted, as they did all along, on a total submission to all their de-
mands ; and challenged the whole power, which they professedly intended to
employ to the punishment of the king's friends.
NOTE [Z], p. 360.
The author is sensible that some blame may be thrown upon him on account
of this last clause in Mr. Hambden's character, as if he were willing to entertain
a suspicion of bad intentions where the actions were praiseworUiy. — But the
author's meaning is directly contrary : he esteems the last actions of Mr. Hamb-
den's life to have been vei-y blamable ; though, as they were derived from good
motives, only pushed to an extreme, there is room left to believe that the inten-
tions of that patriot, as well as of many of his party, were laudable. Had the
preceding administration of the king, which we are apt to call arbitrary, pro-
ceeded from ambition and an unjust desire of encroaching on the ancient liber-
ties of the people, there would have been less reason for giving him any trust, or
leaving in his hands a considerable share of that power which he had so much
abused. But if his conduct was derived in a great measure from necessity, and
from a natural desire of defending that prerogative which was transmitted to
him from his ancestors, and which his parliaments were visibly encroaching on,
there is no reason why he may not be esteemed a very virtuous prince, and
entirely worthy of trust from his people. The attempt, therefore, of totally an-
nihilating monarchical power was a very blamable extreme ; especially as it was
attended with the danger, to say the least, of a civil war, which, besides the
numberless ills inseparable from it, exposed liberty to much greater perils than
it could have incurred under the now limited authority of tlie king. But as
these points could not be supposed so clear during the time as they are or may
be at present, there are great reasons of alleviation for men who were heated by
the controversy or engaged in the action. And it is remarkable that even at
present (such is the force of party prejudices) there are few people who have
coolness enough to see these matters in a proper light, or are convinced that the
Pajliamont could prudently have stopped in tlieir pretensions. They still plead
the violations of liberty attempted by the king Mter granting the Petition of
NOTES. 613
Right, without considering the extreme harsh treatment which he met with after
making that great concession, and the impossibility of supporting goTcrnment
by the revenue then settled on the crown. The worst of it is that there was a
.great tang of enthusiasm in the conduct of the parliamentary leaders which,
though it might render their conduct sincere, will not much enhance their char-
acter with posterity. And though Hambden was, perhaps, less infected with this
Bpirit than many of his associa' es, he appears not to have been altogether free
from it. His intended migration to .America, where he could only propose the
advantage of enjoying Puritanical prayers and sermons, will be allowed a proof
of the prevalence of this spirit in him.
NOTE [AA], p. 373.
In A letter of the king t-othe queen, preserved in the British Museum, and
published hy Mrs. Macaulay, vol. iv. p. 420, he says that unless religion was pre-
served, the militia (being not, as in France, a formed powerful strength) would
he of little use to the crown : and that if the pulpits had not obedience, which
would never be if Presbyterian government was absolutely established, the king
would have but small comfort of the militia. This reasoning shows the king's
good sense ; ^nd proves that his attachment to ei^iscopacy, though partly founded
4m religious principles, was also, in his situation, derived from the soundest
views of civil policy. In reality, It was easy for the king to perceive, by the
necessapr connection between trifles and important matters, and by the connec-
tion maintained at that time between religion and politics, that when he was
contending for the surplice he was in effect fighting for his crown, and even for
his head. Few of the popular party could perceive this connection ; most of
them were carried headlong by fanaticism, as might be expected in the ignorant
multitude. Few even of the leaders seem to have had more enlarged views.
NOTE [BB], p. 410.
That Laud's severity was not extreme appears from this fact, that he caused
the acts or records of tne high-commission court to he searched, and found that
there had been fewer suspensions, deprivations, and other punishments by three
during the seven years of his time than in any seven years of his predecessor,
Abbot, who was, notwithstanding, in great esteem with the House of Commons. —
Troubles and Trials of Laud, p. 164. But Abbot was little attached to the court,
and was also a Puritan in doctrine, and bore a mortal hatred to the papists ; not
to mention that the mutinous spirit was rising higher in the time of Laud, and
would less bear control. The maxims, however, oi his administration were the
same that had ever prevailed in England, and that had place in evevy other
European nation, except Holland, which studied chiefly the interests of com-
merce, and France, which was fettered by edicts and treaties. To have changed
them for the modern maxims of toleration, how reasonable soever, would have
been deemed a very hold and dangerous enterprise. It is a principle advanced
by President Montesquieu that where the magistrate is satisfled with the estab-
lished religion, he ought to repress the first attempts towards innovation, and
only grant a toleration to sects that are diffused and established. See L'Esprit
des Loix, liv. xxv. ch. x. According to this principle Laud's indulgence to the
Catholics and severity to the Puritans would admit of apology. I own, however,
that it is verv questionable whether persecution can in any case be justified; but,
at the seme time, it would be hard to give that appellation to Laud's conduct,
who only enforced the act of uniformity, and expelled the clergyman that ac-
cepted of beiiefices and yet refused to observe the ceremonies which they pre-
viously knew to be enjoined by law. He never refused them sejjarate places of
worship ; because they themselves would have esteemed it impious to demand
them, and no less impious to allow them.
NOTE [CO], p. 430.
Dr. Birch has written a treatise on this subject. It is not my business to
oppose any facts contained in that gentleman's performance, I shall only pro-
duce arguments which prove that Glamorgan, when he received his jjrivate com-
mission, had injunctions from the king to act altogether in concert with Ormond.
1. It seems to be implied in the very words of the commission. Glamorgan is
empowered and authorized to treat and conclude with tlie confederate Roman
Catholics in Ireland. "If upon necessity any (articles) he condescended unto,
wherein the king's lieutenant cannot so well be seen in, as not tit for us at pres-
ent publicly to own," Here no articles are mentioned which are not tit to be
communicated to Ormond, but only not fit for him and the king publicly to be
614 HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
seen in and to avow. 2. The king's protestation to Orroond ought, both on ac
count of that prince's character and the reasons he assigns, to have the greatest
weight. The words are these: "Ormoiid, I cannot but add to my Jong letter
that, upon the word of a Christian, I never intended Glamorgan should treat
anything witliout your approbation, much less without your knowledge. For.
besides the injury to you, i was always dittident of his judgment (though 1 could
not think him so extremely weak as now, to my cost, 1 have founU), which you
may easily perceive in a postscript of a letter of mine to you."— Carte, vol. ii.
App. xxiii. It is impossible that any man of honor, however he might dissemble
with his enemies, would assert a falsehood in so solemn a mamier to his best
friend, especially where that person must have had opportunities of knowijig the
truth. The letter, whose postscript is mentioned by the king, is to be found in
Carte, vol. ii. App. xiii. 3. As the king had really so low an opinion of Gla-
morgan's understanding, it is' very unlikely that he would trust him wilh the
sole management of so important and delicate a treaty ; and if he had intended
that Glamorgan's negotiation should have been independent of Onnond, he
would never have told the latter nobleman of it, nor have put him on his guard
against Glamorgan's imprudence. That the king judged aright of this noble-
man's character appears from his Century of Arts or Scanthng of Inventions,
which is a ridiculous compound of lies, chimeras, and impossibilities, and shows
what might be expected from such a man. 4. Mr. Carte has published a whole
series of the king's correspondence with Ormond, from the time that Glamorgan
came into Ireland ; and it is evident that Charles all along considers the lord-
lieutenant as the person who was conducting the negotiations with the Irish.
The 3l8t of July, 1645, alter the battle of Naseby, being reduced to great straits,
he writes earnestly to Ormond to conclude a peace upon certain conditions
mentioned, much inferior to those granted by Glamorgan, and to come over him-
self with all the Irish he could engage in his service.— Carte, vol. iii. No. 4)0.
This would have been a great absurdity if he had already fixed a different cajial
by which, on very different conditinna, he purposed to establish a peace. On the
23d of October, as his distresses multiply, he somewhat enlarges the conditions,
though they still fall short of Glamorgan's — a new absurdity! See Carte, vol.
iii. p. 411. 5. But what is equivalent to a demonstration that Glamorgan was
conscious that he had no power to conclude a treaty on these terms, or without
consulting the lord-lieutenant, and did not even expect that the king would ratify
the articles, is the defeasance which he gave to the Irish council at the time of
signing the treaty. "The Earl of Glamorgan does no way intend hereby to
oblige his majesty other than he himself shall please after he has received these
ten thousand men as a pledge and testimony of the said lioman Catholics' loyalty
and fidelity to his majesty ; yet he promises faithfully, upon liis word and honor,
not to acquaint his majesty with this defeasance till he has endeavored, as far as
in him lay, to induce his majesty to the granting of the particulars in the said
articles; but, that done, the said commissioners dSeharge the said Earl of
Glamorgan, both in honor and conscience, of any further engagement to them
therein, though his majesty should not be pleased to grant the said particulars in
the articles mentioned ; the said earl having given them assurance, upon his
word, honor, and voluntary oath, that he would never, to any person whatsoever
discover this defeasance in the inierim without their consent."— Dr. Birch, p. Oe!
All Glamorgan's view was to get troops for the king's service without hurting
his own honor or his master's. The wonder only is why the Irish accepted of a
treaty which bound nobody, and which the very person who concludes it seems
to confess he does not expect to be ratified. They probably hoped that the king
would, from their services, be more easily induced to ratify a treaty which was
concluded than to consent to its conclusion. 6. I might add that the lord-lieu-
terant's concurrence in the treaty was the more requisite because without it the
treaty could not be carried into execution by Glamorgan, nor the Irish troops be
transported into England ; and even with Ormond's concurrence it clearly ap-
pears that a treaty so ruinous to the Protestant religion in Ireland could not be
executed in opposition to the zealous Protestants of that kingdom. No one can
doubt of this truth who peruses Ormond's correspondence in Mr Carte. ITie
king was sufaciently apprised of this difficulty. It appears, indeed, to be the
oniy reason why Ormond objected to the granting of high terms to the Irish
Catholics.
Dr. Birch, in p. 360, has published a letter of the king's to Glamorgan where
he says, " Howbeit I know you cannot be but confident of my making good all
instructions and promises to you and the nuncio." But it is to be remarked
that this letter is dated April 5, 1646 ; after there had been a new netrotiation
entered into between Glamorgan and the Irish, and after a provisional treatv
had even been concluded between them. See Dr. Birch, p 179 The king's
assurances, therefore, can plainly relate only to this recent transaction. The old
NOTES. 615
treaty had long been disavowed by the king, and supposed by all parties to be
annulled.
NOTE [DD], p. 458.
Salmonet, Ludlow, Hollis, etc., all these, especially the last, being the declared
inveterate enemies of Cromwell, are the more to be credited when they advance
any fact which may serve to apologize for his violent and criminal conduct,
7'here prevails a story that Cromwell intercepted a letter written to the queen,
where the l£ing said that he would first raise and then destroy Cromwell. But
besides that this conduct seems to contradict the character of the king, it is, on
other accounts, totally unworthy of credit. It is first told by Roger Coke, a very
passionate and foolish histoiiaii, who wrote, too, so late as King William's reigji;
and even he mentions it only as a mere rumor or hearsay, without any known
foundation. In the Memoirs of Lord Broghill we meet with another story of an
intercepted letter, which deserves some more attention and agrees very well wiLh
the narration here given. It is thus related by Mr. Maurioe, chaplaiu to Roger,
Earl of Orrery : ''Lord Orrery, in the time of his greatness with Cromwell, ]ust
after he had so seasonably relieved him in his great distress at Clonmel, riding
out of youghaU one day with him and Ireton, they fell into discourse about, the
king's deam. Cromwell thereupon said more than once that if the king had fol-
lowed his own judgment, and had been attended by none but trusty servants, he
had fooled them all; and that once they bad' a mind to have closed with him,
but, upon something that happened, fell off from that design. Orrery, finding
them in good humor, and being alone with them, asked if he might presume to
desire to know why they would once have closed with his majesty, and why they
did not ? Cromwell very freely told him he would satisly him with both his
queries. * The reason,' says he, * why we would have closed with the king was
this : we found that the Scotch and Presbyterians began to be more powerful
than we, and were likely to agree with him and leave ua in the lurch. For this
reason we thought it test to prevent them by offering first to come in upon
reasonable conditions. But while our thoughts were taken up with this subject,
there came a letter to us from one of our spies, who was of the king's bed-
chamber, acquainting us that our final doom was decreed that very day ; that he
could not possibly learn what it was, but we might discover it if we could but
intercept a letter sent from the king to the queen, wherein he informed her of
his resolution ; that this letter was sewn up in the skirt of a saddle, and the
bearer of it would come with the saddle upon his head, about ten of the clock
that night, to the Blue Boar in Holboni, where he was to take horse for Dover.
The messenger knew nothing of the letter in the saddle, though some in Dover
did. We were at Windsor,' said Cromwell, 'when we received this letter, and,
immed-iately upon the receipt of it, Ireton and 1 resolved to tike one trusty fellow
with us and to go in troopers' habits to that inn. We did so ; and, leaving our
man at the gate of the inn (which had a wicket only open to let persons in and
out) to watch and give us notice when any man came in with a saddle, we went
into a drinking-stall. We there continued drinking cans of beer till about ten of
the clock, when our sentinel at the gate gave us notice that the man with the
saddle was come. We rose up presently, and just as the man was leading out
his horse saddle we came up to him with drawn sworda and told him we were to
search all that went in and out there ; but as he looked like an honest man we
would only search his saddle, and so dismiss him. The saddle was ungirt, we
carried itmto the stall where we had been drinking, and, ripping open one of the
skirts, we there found the letter we wanted. Having thus got it into our bands,
we delivered the man (whom we had left with our sentinel) his saddle, told him
he was an honest fellow, and bade him go about his business ; which he did. pur-
suing his journey without more ado, and ignorant of the harm he had suffered.
We found in the letter that his majesty acquainted the queen that hi' was courted
by both factions— the Scotch Presbyterians and the army— and that those which
bade the fairest for him should have him ; but yet he thought he should close
with the Scots sooner than with the other. Upon this we returned to Windsor ;
and, finding we were not likely to have good terms from the king, we from that
time vowed his destruction.'" "This relation, suiting well enough with other
passages and circumstances at this thne, I have inserted to gratify the reader's
curiosity." — Carte's Ormond, vol. ii. p. 12.
NOTE [EEl, p.460.
These are the words : " Laneric, I wonder to hear (if that be true) that some
of my friends say that my going to Jersey would have much more f urtheied my
personal treaty than my 'coming hither, for which, as I see no color of reason, so
616 HISTORY OF ENGLAT!«^D.
I had not been here if I had thought that fancy true, or had not been secured of
a personal treaty, of which I neither do, nor 1 hope will, repent, for I am daily
more and more satisfied with the governor, and lind these islanders very good,
peaceable, and quiet people. This encouragement 1 have thought not unlit for
you to receive, hoping at least it may do good upon others, though needless to
to you." — Burnet's Memoirs of Hamilton, p. 326. See also Kushworth, part iv.
vol. ii. p. 941, All the writers of that age, except Clarendon, represent the king's
going to the Isle of Wight as voluntaz-y and intended. Perhaps the king thought
it little for his credit to be trepanned into this measure, and was more willing
to take it on himself as entii-ely voluntary. Perhaps he thought it would
encourage his friends, if they thought him in asituatiou which was not disagree-
able to him.
NOTE [FF], p. 474.
The king composed a letter to the prince in which he related the whole course
of this transaction, and accompanied his narrative with several wise as well as
pathetical reflections and advices. The wordy with which he concluded the let-
ter are remarkable : " By what hath beeji said, you see how long I have labored
in the search of peace ; do not you be disheartened to tread in the same steps.
Use all worthy means to restore yourself to your rights ; but prefer the way of
peace. Show the greatness of your miiid, rather to conquer your enemies by
pardoning than by punishing. If you saw how unmanly and unchristian the
implacable disposition is in oar ill-wisher-, you would avoid that spirit. Censure
me not for having parted with so much of our right. The price was great ; but
the commodity was security to us, peace to my people. And I am conlident that
another Parliament would remember how useful a king's power is tQ a people's
liberty ; of how much power I divested myself, that I and they might meet once
a^ain in a parliamentary way, in order to agree the bounds of prince and people.
Give belief to my experience, never to afllect more greatness or prerogative tlian
what is really and intrinsically for the good of the subjects, not the satisfaction
of favorites. If you thus use it, you will never want means to be a father to all
and a bountiful prince to any whom you incline to be extraordinarily gracious to.
You may perceive that all men intrust their treasure wheie it returns them
interest j and if a prince, like the sea, receive and repay all the fresh streams
which the rivers intrust with him, they will not grudge, but pride themselves, to
make him up an ocean. These considerations may make you jis great a prince
as your father is a low one ; and your state may be so much the more estab-
lished as mine hath been shaken. For our subjects have learned, I dare say,
that victories over their princes are but triumphs over themselves, and so will
more unwillingly hearken to changes hereafter. The English nation are a sober
people, however at present infatuated. I know not but this may be the last time
I may speak to you or to the world publicly. I am sensible into what hands I
am fallen ; and yet I bless God I have those inward refreshments which the
malice of my enemies cannot perturb. I have learned to be busy myself by retir-
ing into myself, and, therefore, can the better digest whatever befalls me, not
doubting but God's providence will restrain our enemies' power, and turn their
fierceness into his praise. To conclude, if God give you success, use it humbly
and be ever far from revenge. If he restores you to your right on hard condi-
tions, whatever you promise, keep. These men who have violated laws which
they were bound to preserve will lind their triumphs full of trouble. But do not
you thiiili anything in the world worth attaining by foul and unjust means."
NOTE [GG], p. 490.
The imputation of insincerity on Charles I., like most party clamors, is difB-
cnlt to be removed ; though it may not here be improper to say something with
regard to it. J shall first remark that this imputation seems to be of a later
growth than his own age ; and that even his enemies, though they loaded him
with many calumnies, did not insist on this accusation, Lu(Jlow, I think, is
almost the only parliamentarian who imputes that vice to him j and how pas-
sionate a writer he is must be obvious to every one. Neither Clarendon, nor any
other of the royalists, ever justify him from insincerity, as not supposing that he
had ever been accused of it. In the second place, his deportment and cliaracter
in common life was free from that vice. He was reserved, distant, stately ; cold
in bis address, plain in his discourse, inflexible in his principles ; wide of the
caressing, insinuating manners of his son, or the professing, talkative humor of
his father. The imputation of insincerity must be grounded on some of his pub-
lic actions^ which we are, therefore, in the third place, to examine. The follow-
ing are the only instances which I find cited to confirm that accusation : 1. His
XOTES. 617
vouching Buckingham' s narrative of the transactions in Spain, But it is evident
that Charles himself was deceived ; why, otherwise, did he quarrel with Spain ?
The followiaig is a passage of a letter fiom Lord Kensington, ambassador in
France, to the Duke of liuekingham, Cabala, p. :^lB: "Bub his highness (the
prince) had observed as great a weakness and folly as that, in that after they
(the Spaniards) had used him so ill, they would suffer him to depart, which was
one of the lirst speeches he uttered after he came into the ship. * But did he say
BO?' said the queen (of France). 'Yes, madam, I will assure you,' quoth I
'from the witness of mine own ears.' She smiled and replied, 'Indeed, I have
heard he was used ill.' ' So he was,' answered 1, ' but not m his entertainment,
for that was as splendid &s that country could alford it ; but in their frivolous
delays and in the unreasonable conditions which they propounded and pressed
upon the advantage they had of his princely person.' " 2. Bishop Burnet, in his
History of the House of Hamilton, p. 154, has preserved a letter of the king's to
the Scottish bishops, in which he desires them not to be present at the Parlia-
ment, where they would be forced to ratify the abolitjo^i of their own order':
" For," adds the king, " we do hereby assure you that it shall be still one of our
chiefest studies how to rectify and establish the government of that Church'
aright, and to repair your losses, which we desire to he most confident of." And
in another place, " You may rest secure that though perhaps we may give way
for the pre.-^ent to that which will be prejudicial both to the Church and our own
tovernment, yet we shall not leave thinking in time how to remedy both." But
oes tlie king say that he will arbitrarily revoke his concessions ? Does not can-
dor require us rather to suppose that he hoped his authority would so far recover
as to enable him to obtain the national consent to re-establish episcopacy^which
he believed so material a part of religion as well as of government? It is not
easy, indeed, to think how he could hope to effect this purpose in any other way
than his father had taken ; that is, hy consent of Parliament. 3. There is a pas-
iage in Lord Clarendon where it is said that the king assented the more easily to
the bill which excluded the bishops from the House of Peers because he thought
that that law, being enacted by force, coald not be valid ; but the king certainly
reasoned right in that conclusion. Three fourths of the temporal peers were at ,
that time banished by the violence of the populace; twelve bishops were unjustly
thrown into the Tower by the Commons ; great numbers of the Commons them-
selves were kept away by fear or violence ; the king himself was chased from
London. If all this be not force, there is no such thing. . But this scruple of the
king's affects only the bishops' bill, and that against pressing. The other con-
stitutional laws had passed without the least appearance or violence, as did
indeed all the bills passed during the first year, except Strafford's attainder,
which could not be recalled. The Parliament, therefore, even if they had known
the king's sentiments in this particular, could not, on that account, have had
any just foundation of jealousy. 4. The king's letter intercepted at Naseby has
been the source of much clamor. We have spoken of it already in chapter Iviii,
Nothing is more usual in all public transactions than such distinctions. After
the death of Charles II. of Spain, King William's ambassadors gave the Duke of
Anjou the title of King of Spain ; yet at that very time King William was secretly
forming alliances to dethrone him"; and soon after he refused him that title, and
insisted (as he had reason) that he had not acknowledged his right. Yet King
William justly passes for a very sincere prince; and this transaction is not re-
garded as any objection to his character in that particular. In all the negotia-
tions at the Peace of Ryswick, the French ambassadors always addressed King
William as King of England ; yet it was made an express article of the treaty
that the French king should acknowledge him as such. Such a palpable differ-
ence is there between giving a title to a prince and positively recognizing his
right to it. I may add that Charles, when he asserted that protestation in the
council-books before his council, surely thought he had reason to justify his con-
duct. There were too many men of honor in that company to avow a palpable
cheat. To which we may subjoin that if men were as much disposed to judge of
this prince's actions with candor as severity, this precaution of entering a pro-
test in his council-books might rather fjass for a proof of scrupulous honor ; lest
he should afterwards be reproached with breach of his word, when he should
think proper again to declare the assembly at Westminster no Parliament.
5. The denying of his commission to Glamorgan is another instance which has
been cited. This matter has been already treated in a note to chapter Iviii.
That transaction was entirely innocent. Even if the king had given a commis-
sion to Glamorgan to conclude that treatj', and had ratified it, will any reason-
able man in our age think it strange that in order to save his own life, his crown,
his family, his friends, and his party, he should make a treaty with Papists, and
grant them very large concessions for their religion ? C. There is another of the
king's intercepted letters to the queen commonly mentioned, where it is pre-
618 HISTORY OP ENGLAND.
tended he talked of raising and then destroying Cromwell ; hut that story stands
on no manner of foundation, as we have observed in a preceding note to this
chapter. In a word, the Parliament, after the commencement of their violent-es,
and still more after beginning the civil war, had reason for their scruples and
jealousies, founded on the very nature of their situation, and on the general
propensity of the human mind, not on any fault of the king's character, who
was candid, sincere, upright, as much as any man whom we met with in history.
Perhaps it would be difBcult to hud another character so unexceptionable in this
particular.
As to the other circumstances of Charles's character chiefly exclaimed against —
namely, his arbitrary principles in government — one may venture to assert that
the greatest enemies of this prince will not find, In the long line of his predeces-
sors, from the conquest to his time, any one king, except perhaps his father,
whose administration was not more arbitrary and less legal, or whose conduct
could have been recommended to him by the pojaular part^' themselves, as a
model, inthis particular, for his government. Nor is it sufficient to say tliat ex-
ample and precedent can never authorize vices ; examples and precedents, uni-
form and ancient, can surely fix the nature of any constitution and the limits of
any form of government. There is, indeed, no other principle by which those
landmarks or boundaries can be settled.
What a paradox in human affairs that Henry ATCII. should have been almost
adored in hid lifetime, and his memory be respected ; while Charles 1. should, by
the same people, at no greater distance than a century, have been led to a public
and ignominious execution, and his name be ever after pursued by falsehood and
by obloquy ! Even at present an historian who, prompted by his courageous gen-
erosity, should venture, though from the most authentic and undisputed facts, to
vindicate the fame of that prince would be sure to meet with such treatment as
would discourage even the boldest from so dangerous, however splendid, aa
enterprise.
NOTE [HH] p. 504.
The following instance of extravagance is given by Walker in his History of
Independency, part ii. p. 152. About this time there came six soldiers into the
parish church of Walton-upon-Thames near twilight ; Mr. Faucet, the preacher
there, not having till then ended his sermon. One of the soldiers had a lantern
in his hand and a candle burning in it, and in the other hand four candles not
lighted. He desired the parishioners to stay awliile, saying he had a message
from God unto them, and thereupon offered to go into the pulpit. But the people
refusing to give him leave so to do, or to stay in the church, he went into the
churchyard, and there told them that he had a vision wherein he had received a
command from God to deliver his will unto them, which he was to deliver and
they to receive upon pain of damnation ; consisting of five lights. 1. '* That the
Sabbath was abolished as unnecessary, Jewish, and merely ceremonial. 'And
here,' quoth he, ' 1 should put out the first light, but the wind is so high I cannot
kindle it.' 2. That tithes are abolished as Jewish and ceremonial, a great burden
to the saints of God, and a discouragement of industrv and tillage * And here
1 should put out my second light,' etc. 3. That ministers are abolished as anti-
christian, and of no longer use; now Christ himself descends into the hearts of
his saints and his Spirit enlighteneth Ihem with revelations and in sni rations.
And here I should put out my third light,' etc. 4. Magistrates are abolished aa
useless, now tbat Chnst himself is in purity among us, and hath erected the
kingdom of the saintsupon earth. Besides, they are tyrants and oppressors of the
liberty of the saints, and tie them to laws and ordinances, mere human inven-
tions. ' And here I should put out my fourth light,' etc. 5. Then, putting his
hand into his pocket and pulling out a little Bible, he showed it open to the peo-
ple, saying, * Here is a book you have in great veneration, consisting of two parts
— the Old and New Testament. I must tell you it is abolished ; it containeth
beggarly rudiments, milk for babes ; but now Christ is in glory among us, and
imparts a further measure of his Spirit to his saints than this can afford, I am
commanded to burn it before your face.' Then putting out the candle, he said,
'And here my fifth light is extinguished.' " It became a pretty common doctrine
at that time that it was unworthy of a Christian man to pay rent to his fellow-
creatures ; and landlords were obliged to use all the penalties of law against their
tenants whose conscience was scrupulous.
NOTE [II], p. 534.
When the Earl of Derby was alive, be had been summoned by Treton to sur-
render the Isle of Man, and he returned this spirited andjnemorable answer ; *'I
NOTES. 619
reoeived your letter with indignation, and with scorn return you this answer, that
I cannot but wonder whence you should gather any hopes that 1 should prove,
like you, treacherous to my sovereign ; since you cannot be ignorant of my
former actions in his )ate majesty's service, from which principles of loyalty I am
no whit departed. I scorn your proffers, I disdain your favor, 1 abhor your trea-
son, and am so far from delivering up this island to your advantage that I shall
keep it to the utmost of my power to your destruction. Take this for your final
answer, and forbear any further solicitations ; for if you trouble me with any
more messages of this nature, I will burn the paper and hang up the bearer.
This is the immutable resolution, and shall be the undoubted practice, of him
who accounts it his chiefest glory to be his majesty's most loyal and obedient
subject. — Derby."
NOTE [KK], p. 536.
It had been a usual policy of the Presbyterian ecclesiastics to settle a chap-
lain in the great families, who acted as a spy upon his master, and gave them
intelligenee of the most private transactions and discourses of the family— a
single instance of priestly tyranny and the subjection of the nobility ! They even
obliged the servants to give intelligence against their masters.— Whitlocke, p.
502. The same author, p. 512, tells tlie following story ; "The synod meeting at
Perth, and citing the ministers and people, who had expressed a dislike of llieir
heavenly government, the men being out of the way, their wives resolved to
answer for them. And, on the day of appearance, one hundred and twenty
women, with good clubs in their hands, came and besieged the church, where
the reverend minister sat. They sent one of their immber to treat with the
females ; and he threatening excommunication, they basted him for his labor,
kept him prisoner, and sent a party of sixty, who routed the rest of the clergy,
bruised their bodies sorely, and took all their baggage and twelve horses. One
of the ministers, after amile's running, taking all creatures for his foes, meeting
with a soldier, fell on his knees, who, Knowing nothing of the matter, asked the
biackcoat what he meant? The female conquerors, having laid hold on the
synod clerk, beat him tillhe forswore his office. Thii-teen ministers rallied about
four miles from the place, and voted that this village should never more have a
sjHiod in it, but be accursed ; and that though in the year 1638 and 1639 the godly
women were- cried up for stoning the bishops, yet now the whole sex should be
esteemed wicked."
NOTE [LL], p. 578.
About this time an accident had almost robbed the protector of his life and
saved his enemies the trouble of all their machinations. Having got six fine
Friesland coach-horses as a present from the Count of Oldenburg, he undertook,
for his amusement, to drive thera about Hyde Park ; hi_s secretary, Thurloe,
being in the coach. The horses were startled and ran away ; he was unable to
command them or keep the box. He fell upon llie pole, was dragged upon the
ground for some time : a pistol, which he carried in his pocket, went otf _; and,
by that singular good fortune which ever attended him, he was taken up without
any considerable liurt or bruise.
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